OF 
IA 
UZ 


SANTA     CRUZ 


Gift  of 
MARION   R.   WALKER 

in  memory  of  his  grandfather 

THE  HON.  MARION  CANNON 

M.C.  1892-94 


SANTA     CRUZ 


,  oDCDKJRI  So  [BAKED®  OJKlc 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


JOHN   S.  BARBOUR 

(A    SENATOR    FROM   VIRGINIA), 


DELIVERED   IN   THE 


SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


FEBRUARY  3  AND  25,  1893. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  CONGRESS. 


WASHINGTON  : 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING  OFFICE. 


Resolved  by  the  Senate  (the  House  of  Representatives  concurring),  That  there 
be  printed  of  the  eulogies  delivered  in  Congress  upon  the  Hon.  John  S.  Bar- 
bour,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Virginia,  8,000  copies,  of  which  2,000 
copies  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  that  State, 
and  of  the  remaining  number  2,000  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Senate  and 
4,000  copies  for  the  use  of  the  House,  and  of  the  quota  of  the  Senate  the 
Public  Printer  shall  set  aside  50  copies,  which  he  shall  have  bound  in  full 
morocco  with  gilt  edges,  the  same  to  be  delivered  when  completed  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby 
directed  to  have  engraved  and  printed  at  the  earliest  day  practicable  a 
portrait  of  the  deceased  to  accompany  said  eulogies. 
2 


2.3 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Death  of  Senator  Barbour 5 

Announcement  in  the  Senate 7 

Announcement  in  the  House  of  Representatives 12 

Funeral  ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber 17 

Sermon  of  Bishop  Keene 19 

Proceedings  in  the  Senate : 
Address  of — 

Mr.  Daniel,  of  Virginia 27 

,      Mr.  Manderson,  of  Nebraska.'. 36 

Mr.  Faulkner,  of  West  Virginia 41 

Mr.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire 43 

Mr.  Platt,  of  Connecticut 45 

Mr.  Hill,  of  New  York 49 

Mr.  Hiscock,  of  New  York 1 52 

Mr.  Hunton,  of  Virginia 55 

Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Representatives : 
Address  of — 

Mr.  Meredith,  of  Virginia 62 

Mr.  O'Ferrall,  of  Virginia 66 

Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia 71 

Mr.  Milliken,  of  Maine 75 

Mr.  Tucker,  of  Virginia 77 

Mr.  Kendall,  of  Kentucky 81 

Mr.  Jones,  of  Virginia 87 

3 


DEATH  OF  SENATOR  BARBOUR. 

JOHN  STRODE  BARBOUR,  Senator  from  Virginia,  died  sud- 
denly at  his  residence,  144  B  street  northeast,  Washington, 
about  5:30  o'clock  a.  m.,  Saturday,  May  14,  1892. 

Upon  the  day  before  his  death  Mr.  BARBOUR  attended  a 
meeting  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  of  which 
he  was  a  prominent  member,  and  passed  the  evening  in  conver- 
sation with  relatives  and  friends.  When  he  retired  to  his  room 
at  10  o'clock  he  was,  apparently,  in  sound  health  with  no  premo- 
nition of  his  approaching  end.  A  few  minutes  after  5  o'clock 
the  next  morning  Mr.  BARBOUR  awoke  a  relative  and  said 
that  he  felt  ill.  Assistance  was  immediately  given  to  him  and 
medical  aid  summoned,  but  before  a  physician  arrived  at  the 
house  Mr.  BARBOUR  had  expired. 

The  announcement  of  Mr.  B  ARBOUR'S  death  was  received  with 
general  sorrow.  He  was  a  man  with  hosts  of  friends,  beloved 
by  many  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  His  death  put 
an  end  to  a  well-rounded  life  and  to  a  career  of  honor,  of  useful- 
ness, and  of  distinction — a  career  brilliant  in  its  example  and 
of  incalculable  value  in  the  results  accomplished. 

JOHN  STRODE  BARBOUR,  of  Alexandria,  was  born  in  Cul- 
peper  County,  Virginia,  December  29, 1820 ;  pursued  a  course  of 
study  at  the  University  of  Virginia  for  three  years,  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  school  of  law  there  in  1842 ;  began  the  practice 
of  law  in  his  native  county  of  Culpeper;  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  of  Virginia  from  Culpeper  County  in  1847,  and  was 
reflected,  serving  four  consecutive  sessions ;  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  railroad  company  then  called  the  Orange  and 

5 


6  Death  of  Senator  Barbour. 

Alexandria  Eailroad  Company  in  1852,  and  served  in  that 
position  until  it  was  merged  into  what  is  now.  known  as  the 
Virginia  Midland  Eailroad  Company,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent till  he  resigned  in  1883 ;  was  elected  to  the  Forty-seventh, 
the  Forty-eighth,  and  the  Forty-ninth  Congresses  and  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  as  a  Democrat  to  succeed 
Harrison  H.  Eiddleberger,  Eeadjuster,  and  took  his  seat 
March  4, 1889.  The  term  for  which  he  was  elected  will  expire 
March  3,  1895. 

Every  mark  of  respect  was  paid  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  BAR- 
BOUR. A  guard  composed  of  employes  of  the  Senate  watched 
over  the  remains  at  the  residence  of  the  late  Senator  and 
accompanied  them  when  they  were  borne  to  the  Capitol.  The 
funeral  ceremonies  took  place  in  the  Senate  Chamber  in  the 
presence  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  the  Diplomatic  Corps, 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresentatives,  the  principal  officials 
of  the  Government,  and-  eminent  citizens  of  Virginia.  After 
the  ceremonies  the  remains  of  the  late  Senator,  accompanied 
by  the  committees  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives, were  conveyed  to  Poplar  Hill,  his  beautiful  estate  in 
Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  and  interred  by  the  side 
of  his 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF ^ THE  DEATH  OF  SENATOR  BARBOUR  IN 

THE  SENATE. 


MONDAY,  May  16,  1892. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT  resumed  the  chair. 

The  Chaplain,  Eev.  J.  G.  Butler,  D.  D.,  offered  the  following 
prayer : 

O  God,  Jehovah,  we  reverently  draw  nigh  to  Thee,  worship- 
ing Thee,  the  only  living  and  true  God.  Amid  the  mysteries 
of  life  and  death,  the  generations  coming  and  going,  we  rejoice 
that  Thy  throne  abideth.  We  bless  Thee  for  the  life  and 
immortality  brought  to  light  in  the  Gospel.  We  thank  Thee 
for  Him  who  is  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life. 

As  we  stand  among  the  dying  and  the  dead,  give  us  grace  to 
walk  in  Christ,  ever  accepting  His  truth  and  imitating  His 
life,  having  begotten  in  us,  by  Thy  divine  Spirit,  that  life 
which  shall  never  end. 

Sanctify  to  us,  we  pray  Thee,  this  bereavement.  Eemember 
very  tenderly,  thou  God  of  all  comfort,  those  who  stand  most 
nearly  related  to  Thy  departed  servant.  We  thank  Thee  for 
every  true  and  faithful  life  and  for  this  life  spared  so  long. 

We  pray  Thee,  teach  us  to  live  wisely  and  well,  serving 
God  and  our  own  generation,  keeping  our  consciences  right 
before  Thee  and  toward  each  other,  doing  whatsoever  our 
hands  find  to  do  with  all  our  might  faithfully  and  well,  not 
knowing  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein  the  Son  of  Man 

7 


8  Announcement  in  the  Senate, 

cometh,  so  that  whenever  Thou  shalt  come  we  may  be  pre- 
pared to  give  account  to  Thee,  the  judge  of  quick  and  dead. 

Hallow  to  us  the  day  of  God  with  all  the  blessed  privileges 
that  center  in  the  holy  Sabbath.  Sanctify  all  the  orderings 
of  Thy  providence  unto  us  Thy  servants  this  day.  Have  us 
in  Thy  holy  keeping,  O  Thou,  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being.  If  it  please  Thee,  spare  and  prolong  life, 
and  teach  us  so  to  use  life's  blessed  opportunity  that  when 
we  shall  conie  to  the  end  we  may  enter  into  rest.  Blot  out 
our  transgressions,  and  grant  us  grace  and  peace,  in  the 
name  of  Christ  our  Saviour.  Amen. 

The  Journal  of  the  proceedings  of  Friday  last  was  read 
and  approved. 

DEATH   OF   SENATOR   BABBOUR. 

Mr.  KENNA.  Mr.  President,  in  the  absence,  on  account  of 
sickness,  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  DANIEL],  it 
becomes  my  painful  duty  to  announce  to  the  Senate  the 
death  of  Hon.  JOHN  S.  B ARBOUR,  late  a  member  of  this 
body  from  that  State. 

Apparently  in  the  full  and  healthful  possession  of  every 
normal  faculty,  Mr.  BARBOUR  was  among  us  on  Friday  in 
the  active  and  zealous  discharge  of  public  duty.  Even 
beyond  the  allotted  time  of  threescore  years  and  ten  he 
crossed  this  threshold  on  Friday  afternoon,  seemingly  in  vig- 
orous health,  his  last  day's  labor  unconsciously  performed. 
At  10  o'clock  in  the  closing  hours  of  that  day  he  retired  to 
his  bedroom  the  embodiment  and  type  and  perfection,  as  far 
as  human  eye  could  see,  of  physical  manhood.  On  Saturday 
morning,  at  the  age  of  71  years  and  5  months,  at  the  hour  of 
five  and  a  half  o'clock,  with  only  a  word  of  admonition  to 
those  who  aifectionately  surrounded  him  at  his  house  in  this 
city,  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  passed  away. 


Announcement  in  the  Senate.  9 

Mr.  President,  in  this  second  sudden  visitation  of  Provi- 
dence in  the  present  session  of  the  Senate  we  recognize  a 
power  in  whose  inscrutable  wisdom  we  were  born  to  live,  and 
in  the  presence  of  whose  unchallengeable  majesty  we  are 
born  to  die.  The  death  of  Mr.  BARBOUR  is  a  great  grief  to 
his  household,  a  calamity  to  his  friends.  It  has  come  as  a 
personal  affliction  to" his  late  associates  in  the  public  service 
here.  His  State  will  exhibit  in  the  bereavement  of  her 
people  a  realization  of  the  full  measure  of  her  loss,  and  his 
country,  by  the  observances  in  which  the  nations,  by  their 
accredited  representatives,  are  soon,  by  your  invitation,  to 
take  part,  will  acknowledge  her  sense  and  appreciation  of 
this  melancholy  event. 

And  yet,  Mr.  President,  speaking  for  myself  and  making 
frank  expression  of  the  inspiration  of  which  this  solemn  occa- 
sion possesses  me,  I  have  felt,  as  the  associate  and  neighbor 
and  Mend  of  Mr.  BARBOUR,  that  memories  of  his  private  vir- 
tues and  public  career,  elevated  and  clean  and  noble  as  they 
were,  give  back,  at  least  in  some  degree,  a  compensation  from 
the  grave.  They  soften  by  the  sweet  influences  which  radiate 
from  the  consciousness  of  a  life  well  spent  the  asperities  of 
grief  which  nature  is  prone  to  indulge  on  occasions  like  this. 
This  death  is  to  my  mind  the  gathering  of  ripened  fruit,  the 
garnering  of  the  sheaf  in  the  well-rounded  fullness  of  its  golden 
maturity. 

JOHN  S.  BARBOUB  was  in  all  the  relations  of  this  world  an 
elevated  character  and  an  upright  man.  His  sterling  quali- 
ties of  mind  and  heart  bore  practical  fruit.  His  genius  for 
affairs  made  monuments  in  the  business  and  public  walks  of 
men,  as,  in  a  narrower  sphere,  his  humanity  made  gratitudes 
which  will  follow  like  angels,  guarding  him  to  the  tomb. 

When  the  Senate,  as  is  its  custom,  shall  have  set  apart  a 
day  to  be  devoted  to  the  recounting  of  his  manly  virtues  and 


10  Announcement  in  the  Senate. 

the  exhibition  of  the  elements  of  his  lofty  character,  it  will  be 
seen  of  all  that  his  traits  were  above  those  of  most  of  his  fel- 
low-meiij  that  he  was  useful  and  valuable  to  his  country  and 
his  countrymen j  that  he  practiced  justice  and  fair  dealing; 
that  he  was  imbued  with  a  love  of  right;  that  he  gave  example 
worthy  of  emulation  by  youth  as  well  as  by  age,  and  that  he 
moved  and  had  his  being,  without  ostentation  or  form,  in  the 
reverence  and  veneration  of  his  God. 

Mr.  President,  I  offer  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the 
desk. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  The  resolutions  will  be  read. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  the  resolutions,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  announcement  of  the  sudden  death  of  Hon.  JOHN  S. 
BARBOUR  is  received  with  profound  sorrow  by  his  associates  in  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  nine  Senators  be  appointed  by  the  Vice- 
President  to  take  order,  with  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
for  the  funeral  of  the  late  Senator  BARBOUR  ;  and  as  a  mark  of  respect  for 
his  memory  that  his  remains  be  removed  from  the  Capitol  to  his  late  resi- 
dence in  Washington,  and  thence  to  Poplar  Hill,  Maryland,  for  interment  in 
charge  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  attended  by  said  committee,  who  shall 
have  power  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  will  atl  o'clock  to-day  attend  in  its  Chamber 
the  exercises  incident  to  his  funeral. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  proceed- 
ings to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  invite  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives to  attend  the  funeral  in  the  Senate  Chamber  at  the  hour  named. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  Under  the  second  resolution,  as  the 
committee  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  to  take  order  with  the 
committee  from  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  to  accompany 
the  remains  of  their  late  colleague  to  his  final  resting  place, 
the  Chair  appoints  the  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  DANIEL],  the 
Senator  from  West  Virginia  [Mr.  KENNA],  the  Senator  from 
Maryland  [Mr.  GORMAN],  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  [Mr. 
WALTHALL],  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  CARLISLE],  the 
Senator  from  Nevada  [Mr.  STEWART],  the  Senator  from  Mich- 


Announcement  in  the  Senate.  11 

igan  [Mr.  MCMILLAN],  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  CULLOM], 
and  the  Senator  from  Minnesota  [Mr.  WASHBURN]. 

RECESS. 

Mr.  KENNA.  Mr.  President,  I  ask  the  adoption  of  the  reso- 
lution which  I  send  to  the  desk. 
The  resolution  was*  read,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  do  now  take  a  recess  until  12 :50  o'clock. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to;  and  (at  12  o'clock  and  15 
minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  took  a  recess  until  12  o'clock  and  50 
minutes  p.  in.,  at  which  hour  it  reassembled. 

MESSAGE   FROM   THE    HOUSE. 

A  message  from  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  T.  O. 
Towles,  its  Chief  Clerk,  announced  that  the  House  had  passed 
the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  accept  the  invitation  of  the 
Senate  to  attend  the  funeral  services  of  the  late  Hon.  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR, 
a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Virginia,  to  be  held  in 
the  Senate  Chamber  this  day  at  1  o'clock  p.  m. 

Resolved  further,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  be  directed  to  inform  the 
Senate  that  the  Speaker  of  the  House  has  appointed  the  following  com- 
mittee, to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  committee  of  the  Senate,  to  make 
necessary  arrangements  and  accompany  the  remains  to  the  place  of  burial,- 
viz :  Mr.  Meredith,  Mr.  Holman,  Mr.  Wilson  of  West  Virginia,  Mr.  Hen- 
derson of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Heniphill,  Mr.  Mutchler,  Mr.  Blount,  Mr. 
Compton,  Mr.  O'Ferrall,  Mr.  Harmer,  Mr.  Payne,  and  Mr.  Grout. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  SENATOR  BARBOUR 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


SATURDAY,  May  14,  J.892. 

The  House  met  at  12  o'clock  m. 

Prayer  by  the  Chaplain,  Eev.  W.  H.  Milburn,  D.  D.,  as 
follows : 

O,  Eternal  God,  another  hand  is  beckoning  us,  another  call 
is  given.  A  Senator,  long  honorably  connected  with  this 
House,  has  departed,  and  only  the  tenement  of  clay  is  left  to 
the  tender  care  of  those  who  loved  him.  Gloom  overspreads 
the  State  from  which  he  came,  and  many  hearts  will  be  filled 
with  sorrow  and  grief  at  the  sad  news  that  he  is  gone.  Grant, 
we  beseech  Thee,  that  this  impressive  warning  may  come  home 
to  every  heart  before  Thee,  and  that  we  may  heed  the  solemn 
admonition  to  set  our  houses  in  order,  so  that  when  our  call 
shall  come  we  may  be  ready  to  gather  up  our  feet  and  depart 
in  peace  with  all  men,  having  a  good  conscience  towards  Thee, 
fulfilling  our  duty,  and  so  taking  the  record  of  a  well-spent 
life  to  that  world  into  which  we  so  soon  shall  enter.  Grant 
this,  O  Lord,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.  Amen. 

The  Journal  of  the  proceedings  of  yesterday  was  read,  cor- 
rected, and  approved. 

DEATH   OF    SENATOR   BARBOUR. 

Mr.  MEREDITH.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  arise  for  the  purpose  of 
making  the  painful  announcement  to  this  House  of  the  death 
of  Hon.  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  a  Senator  from  Virginia,  which 

12 


Announcement  in  the  House  of  Representatives.       13 

occurred  at  his  residence  in  this  city,  after  a  very  brief  illness, 
at  about  half  past  5  this  morning. 

It  is  only  proper  that  I  should  say  upon  this  occasion  that 
in  the  death  of  Senator  B ARBOUR  his  State  has  met  with  an 
irreparable  loss,  in  which  the  whole  country  will  share. 

At  the  proper  time  I  shall  move  a  resolution  fixing  a  day 
when  his  friends  and  admirers  in  this  House  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  expressing  their  admiration  for  the  character  of 
Senator  B ARBOUR  and  of  paying  a  just  tribute  to  his  memory. 

I  send  to  the  Clerk's  desk  certain  resolutions,  upon  which  I 
ask  immediate  action. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia  [Mr.  MEREDITH] 
submits  certain  resolutions,  which  will  be  reported  by  the 
Clerk. 

The  resolutions  were  read,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  received  with  profound  sorrow  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of  Senator  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  of  Virginia. 

Resolved,  That  the  Speaker  of  the  House  appoint  a  committee  of  twelve 
members,  to  act  in  conjunction  witli  such  committee  as  may  be  appointed 
by  the  Senate,  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  and  accompany  the 
remains  to  the  burial. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  the  House  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to ;  and  the  Speaker  appointed 
as  such  committee  Mr.  MEREDITH,  Mr.  HOLMAN,  Mr.  WILSON 
of  West  Virginia,  Mr.  HENDERSON  of  North  Carolina,  Mr. 
HEMPHILL,  Mr.  MUTCHLER,  Mr.  BLOTJNT,  Mr.  COMPTON,  Mr. 
OTERRALL,  Mr.  HARMER,  Mr.  PAYNE,  and  Mr.  GROUT. 

Accordingly  (at  12  o'clock  and  11  minutes  p.  in.)  the  House 
adjourned  until  Monday,  May  16,  at  12  o'clock  noon. 


14       Announcement  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

MONDAY,  May  16,  1892. 
The  House  met  at  12  o'clock  m. 

Prayer  by  the  Chaplain,  Rev.  W.  H.  MILBURN,  D.  D. 
The  Journal  of  the  proceedings  of  Saturday  last  was  read 
and  approved. 

BEATS   OF   HON.   JOHN.    S.   BARBOUR. 

The  SPEAKER  laid  before  the  House  the  following  letter 
from  the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States : 

VICE-PRESIDENT'S  CHAMBER, 

Washington,  May  14,  1892. 

SIR  :  It  is  my  sad  duty  to  announce  the  sudden  death  to-day  of  Hon. 
JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Virginia. 

The  funeral  services  will  be  held  in  the  Senate  Chamber  at  1  o'clock  p. 
m.,  Monday,  May  16,  1892. 

On  behalf  of  the  Senate,  I  beg  to  extend  to  you  and  through  you  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  an  invitation  to  attend  these  services. 

A  committee  of  five  Senators  will  be  appointed  to  act  with  such  commit- 
tee as  is  appointed  from  the  House  of  Representatives  to  accompany  the 
remains  to  the  place  of  burial. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

LEVI  P.  MORTON. 
The  Hon.  CHARLES  F.  CRISP, 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  Chair  is  informed  that  the  resolutions 
giving  the  action  of  the  Senate  on  that  subject  will  come  over 
in  a  few  moments. 

MESSAGE   FROM  THE   SENATE. 

A  message  from  the  Senate  by  Mr.  McCook,  its  Secretary, 
announced  that  the  Senate  had  passed  the  following  resolu- 
tions : 

Resolved,  That  the  announcement  of  the  sudden  death  of  Hon.  JOHN  S. 
BARBOUR  is  received  with  profound  sorrow  by  his  associates  in  the  Sen- 
ate. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  nine  Senators  be  appointed  by  the  Vice- 
President  to  take  order,  with  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Repre- 


Announcement  in  the  House  of  Representatives.       15 

seutatives,  for  the  funeral  of  the  late  Senator  BARBOUR  ;  and  as  a  mark  of 
respect  for  his  memory  that  his  remains  be  removed  from  the  Capitol  to 
his  late  residence  in  Washington,  and  thence  to  Poplar  Hill,  Maryland, 
for  interment  in  charge  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  attended  by  said 
committee,  who  shall  have  power  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  will  at  1  o'clock  to-day  attend  in  its  Chamber 
the  services  incident  to  his  funeral. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  proceed- 
ings to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  invite  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives to  attend  the  funeral  in  the  Senate  Chamber  at  the  hour  named. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  do  now  take  a  recess  until  12:50  o'clock. 

FUNERAL   OF   SENATOR   JOHN   S.   BARBOUR. 

The  SPEAKER.  If  there  be  no  objection  the  Chair  will 
entertain  a  motion  respecting  the  resolution  which  has  just 
been  presented  from  the  Senate. 

Mr.  O'FERRALL.     I  submit  the  resolutions  I  send  to  the 
desk. 
.     The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  accept  the  invitation  of  the 
Senate  to  attend  the  funeral  services  of  the  late  Hon.  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Virginia,  to  be  held  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  this  day  at  1  o'clock  p.  m. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  be  directed  to  inform  the  Senate 
that  the  Speaker  of  the  House  has  appointed  the  following  Committee  to 
act  in  conjunction  with  the  Committee  of  the  Senate  to  make  necessary 
arrangements,  and  to  accompany  the  remains  to  the  place  of  burial, 
namely :  Messrs.  Meredith,  Holman,  Wilson  of  West  Virginia,  Henderson 
of  North  Carolina,  Hemphill,  Mutchler,  Blount,  Compton,  O'Ferrall,  Har- 
mer,  Payne,  and  Grout. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted. 

Mr.  HOLMAN.    In  this  connection,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the 
following  resolution : 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  at  12:50  p.  m.  the  House  of  Representatives  will  proceed 
to  the  Senate  Chamber  to  attend  the  funeral  services  of  the  late  Senator 
BARBOUR,  and  that  immediately  on  the  conclusion  of  such  services  the 
House  will  return  to  the  Hall  for  the  further  transaction  of  business. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 


FUNERAL  CEREMONIES  IN  THE  SENATE  CHAMBER. 


About  an  hoar  before  noon  the  remains  of  the  deceased  Sen- 
ator were  brought  from  his  home  and  placed  in  the  marble 
room,  where  they  remained  until  the  hour  fixed  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  services  in  the  Senate  Chamber. 

The  body  was  inclosed  in  a  black  cloth-covered  casket, 
devoid  of  silver  ornaments  save  a  plain  silver  plate  bearing 
the  following  inscription  : 

JOHN  S.  BAKBOTJK. 

Born  December  29,  1830. 

Died  May  14,  1892. 

The  casket  was  scarcely  visible  beneath  the  magnificent 
floral  display.  At  the  head  was  a  huge  bunch  of  American 
Beauty  and  blush  roses.  There  were  two  pillows  of  Calla 
lilies,  roses,  and  camelias — one  of  them  with  the  words  "At 
rest7'  in  purple  immortelles  thereon.  A  wreath  of  roses, 
camelias,  and  ivy  was  next  to  one  of  the  pillows,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  available  space  was  taken  up  by  a  very  large 
wreath  of  deep  cream  roses  and  lilies  of  the  valley  adorned 
with  violet  ribbons.  On  a  table  in  one  of  the  window  recesses 
was  a  fine  wreath  which  had  been  sent  by  order  of  President 
Harrison.  It  was  composed  of  roses,  camelias,  and  lilies  of 
the  valley,  and  was. tied  with  broad  violet  ribbon. 

S.  Mis.  64 2  17 


18          Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber. 

A  detail  from  the  Capitol  police  force  stood  guard  over  the 
remains  until  the  services  began  in  the  Senate,  and  the  doors 
leading  to  the  marble  room  were  closed  to  visitors. 

The  Chamber  was  arranged  in  the  manner  usual  for  such 
ceremonies,  seats  being  provided  for  the  Cabinet,  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Diplomatic 
Corps,  the  General  Commanding  the  Army,  the  senior 
Admiral  of  the  Navy,  and  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

The  chair  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  dead  Senator  on 
the  preceding  Friday  was  draped  in  black. 

There  was  a  large  attendance  of  spectators  in  the  gallery, 
many  of  whom  were  personal  friends  of  the  departed  states- 
man. In  one  of  the  northwest  galleries  was  the  Virginia 
Democratic  Association  of  Washington.  Among  the  noted 
Virginians  who  were  present  during  the  ceremonies  were  Gov. 
P.  W.  McKinney,  Hon.  John  Goode,  ex-Gov.  Fitzhugh  Lee, 
Hon.  John  Eandolph  Tucker,  and  ex-Senator  Robert  E. 
Withers. 

At  five  minutes  before  1  o'clock,  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives,  preceded  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  and 
Clerk  and  headed  by  the  Speaker,  entered  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber. The  Speaker  was  escorted  to  a  seat  at  the  right  of  the 
Vice-President,  the  Clerks  at  the  Secretary's  desk,  the  Ser- 
geant-at-Arms on  the  right  of  the  Vice-President's  desk,  and 
the  members  of  the  House  were  escorted  to  the  seats  011  the 
floor  provided  for  them. 

They  were  soon  followed  by  the  Major-General  Commanding 
the  Army,  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  the 
Chief  Justice  and  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  and  the  Diplo- 
matic Corps,  who  were  respectively  escorted  to  the  seats 
assigned  them  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  Chamber.  The 


Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber.          19 

President  was  absent  from  the  city  and  consequently  could 
not  attend  the  ceremonies. 

At  1  o'clock  and  10  minutes  p.  m.  the  casket  containing  the 
remains  of  the  deceased  Senator  was  brought  into  the  Senate 
Chamber,  having  been  preceded  by  the  family  and  friends  of 
the  deceased,  and  escorted  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the 
Senate  and  the  committee  of  arrangements  of  the  two  Houses 
and  pall-bearers  selected  from  the  Capitol  police,  and  followed 
by  acolytes  and  Et.  Kev.  John  J.  Keane,  rector  of  the  Catholic 
University  of  America,  Eev.  C.  Gillespie,  S.  J.,  Kev.  M.  C. 
Dolan,  S.  J.,  Eev.  A.  M.  Mandalari,  S.  J.,  Eev.  James  Smith, 
S.  J.,  Eev.  Jacob  Walter,  Eev.  James  F.  Mackin,  Eev.  John 
T.  Delaney,  Monsignor  I.  Schroeder  and  Prof.  Joseph  Pohle, 
of  the  Catholic  University,  and  Eev.  Aloysius  Brosnan,  S.  J., 
master  of  ceremonies. 

The  prayers  for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  prescribed  in  the 
ritual  of  the  Catholic  Church,  were  read  by  Eev.  C.  Gillespie, 
S.  J.,  rector  of  St.  Aloysius  Church,  first  in  Latin  and  then  in 
English,  the  responses  being  made  by  the  attending  clergy- 
men. After  the  incensing  and  blessing  of  the  body,  Et.  Eev. 
John  J.  Keane  delivered  the  following  sermon : 


FUNERAL  SERMON  OF  BISHOP  KEANR 

Judge  not  before  the  time,  until  the  Lord  come,  who  both  will  bring  to 
light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness,  and  will  make  manifest  the  counsels 
of  the  hearts,  and  then  shall  every  man  have  his  praise  from  God. — [1  Cor., 
iv,  5. 

In  the  presence  of  the  judgment  of  God,  how  must  all  human 
judgment  bow  in  adoring  silence !  It  is  the  lesson  which  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  thus  solemnly  impressed  on  the  Cor- 
inthians. It  is  the  lesson  which  in  this  hour  of  mourning  and 
of  wistful  gazing  beyond  the  tomb  he  lovingly  whispers  to  us. 


20          Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber. 

It  is  the  lesson  by  which  he  ever  shaped  his  own  life.  In  no 
spirit  of  contempt  for  his  fellow-men,  but  in  the  profound  con- 
viction that  man's  judgment  is  of  but  small  account  when 
compared  with  the  judgments  of  the  Almighty,  he  exclaimed: 
"To  me  it  is  a  very  small  matter  how  I  am  judged  by  you,  or 
by  human  judgment;  neither  do  I  judge  my  own  self.  For  I 
am  not  conscious  of  any  wrong  in  myself;  yet  am  I  not  hereby 
justified;  but  He  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord. " 

Could  those  white  lips  speak  to  us  now,  would  they  npt, 
with  the  awful  eloquence  of  eternity,  reecho  the  words  of  the 
Apostle?  "  Judge  me,"  he  would  say,  "ye  friends  and  part- 
ners and  witnesses  of  my  life,  judge  me,  for  it  is  your  right; 
iny  life  was  not  my  own  but  yours,  and  you  have  a  right  to 
pass  sentence  on  it.  Judge  me,  all  ye  whose  interests  were 
for  so  many  years  intrusted  to  my  keeping;  honestly  I  strove 
to  do  my  full  duty  to  you,  but  I  own  my  responsibility  and 
your  judgment  is  welcome.  Judge  me!  O,  my  country,  to 
whom  the  best  energies  of  my  life  were  consecrated;  thou 
knowest  that  I  loved  thee  devotedly;  that  I  strove  to  serve 
thee  unselfishly;  that  beyond  all  the  interests  of  family  or 
friends  or  party  thy  welfare  was  the  chief  object  of  my  desires; 
to  thee  my  life  belonged  and  thou  hast  a  right  to  judge  it. 
But,  O,  my  country  and  my  friends,  highly  though  I  value 
your  judgment,  sorely  though  I  would  be  grieved  if  ye  found 
me  worthy  of  your  disapproval,  sweet  as  will  be  to  me  the 
sentence  of  your  approbation,  the  hope  of  which  was  ever  a 
spur  to  my  endeavors,  yet  what  will  all  this  avail  me  in  the 
eternity  into  which  I  have  now  entered,  unless  the  judgment 
of  Him  who  searcheth  the  reins  and  the  hearts  be  also  a  judg- 
ment of  mercy  and  approval?  O,  pray  for  me,  my  friends,  for 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  touched  me." 

uWho  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  or  who  hath  been 
His  counselor?"  Not  even  the  Church  of  Christ  pretends  to 


Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  21 

lift  "the  veil  and  declare  the  sentence  of  the  Most  High.  For 
every  child  of  God  over  whom  her  funeral  rites  are  celebrated 
she  has  ever  the  self- same  form  of  humble  and  repentant  sup- 
plication, for  mercy.  Even  over  those  who  have  been  highest 
in  the  ranks  of  her  ministry  she  utters  the  same  cry  for  mercy, 
and  whatever  there  is  of  added  liturgy  is  only  addition  of  sup- 
plication because  of  their  weightier  responsibility.  Knowing 
full  well  how  truly  the  apostle  says:  "If  we  say  that  we  have 
no  sin  we  deceive  ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us;"  in  the 
awful  hour  of  death  she  discerneth  not  between  layman  and 
cleric,  between  the  poor  stray  sheep  that  has  got  into  the 
fold,  as  it  were,  at  the  last  moment,  and  the  faithful  one  that 
has  stayed  in  it  always;  but  over  them  all  and  in  the  name  of 
all  equally  she  cries  out  to  the  Eternal  Judge :  "  Have  mercy 
on  me,  O  God,  according  to  Thy  great  mercy,  and  according 
to  the  multitude  of  Thy  tender  mercies  blot  out  my  iniquity. 
For  I  know  my  iniquity  and  my  sin  is  always  before  me." 

She  offers  up  that  prayer  for  mercy  not  only  for  them,  but 
in  their  name.  She  prays  for  all  men,  without  limit  or  excep- 
tion, with  a  charity  as  catholic  as  her  name,  as  limitless  as 
the  charity  of  Christ.  But  she  can  pray  in  the  name  only  of 
those  who  have  associated  themselves  with  her,  who  have 
become  her  members  either  in  accomplished  fact  or  in  clearly 
declared  intention  and  desire.  She  prays  this  day  not  only 
for  Senator  B ARBOUR,  but  in  his  name,  because  for  years  past 
he  had  identified  his  religious  life  entirely  with  her.  She 
regards  him  as  having  been  a  catechumen,  a  candidate  for 
baptism  and  for  full  membership  in  her  communion,  for  such 
his  words  and  acts  plainly  declared  him  to  be.  And  from  the 
earliest  days  of  the  Church's  history  we  see  with  what  special 
tenderness  she  regarded  her  catechumens.  History  has  pre- 
served to  us  the  discourse  pronounced  by  the  great  St. 
Ambrose  over  the  Emperor  Yalentinian,  who  was  cut  off  by  an 


22          Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber, 

untimely  death  ere  yet  lie  had  joined  the  membership  of  the 
Church  by  receiving  baptism. 

Grieve  not — 

Says  the  saint — 

because  he  died  without  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  Tell  me,  is  there  any- 
thing on  our  part  but  the  will,  the  desire  ?  That  grace  he  desired  he  asked 
for;  who  then  will  say  that  having  asked  he  did  not  receive?  Assuredly 
because  he  asked  the  grace  he  received  it.  Pour  forth  then,  O  Eternal 
Father- 
He  continues — 

pour  forth  on  this  Thy  servant  the  abundance  of  the  mercy  and  the  grace 
which  he  so  desired.  As  Thou  has  crowned  Thy  unbaptized  martyrs  with 
the  baptism  of  their  blood,  so  crown  this  Thy  servant  with  the  baptism  of 
his  desire.  And  ye,  O  brethren — 

He  exclaims  to  the  people — 

unite  your  supplications  with  mine ;  offer  for  his  soul  the  holy  mysteries ; 
with  pious  affection  let  us  pray  for  his  repose ;  by  the  offering  of  the  heav- 
enly sacrements  let  us  follow  his  soul  with  spiritual  help.  I  scatter  not 
flowers  on  his  tomb,  but  I  pour  upon  his  soul  the  sweet  perfume  of  Christ. 
With  this  will  I  sanctify  his  remains ;  through  this  will  I  invoke  on  him 
all  heavenly  grace. 

In  very  many  words  like  these,  all  glowing  with  faith  and 
charity,  all  laden  with  the  sweetness  of  Christian  hope,  did 
this  great  father  of  the  Church  utter  the  feelings  of  his  soul 
towards  his  beloved  catechumen.  And  well  we  know  that  this 
was  no  prompting  of  human  respect,  no  sacrifice  of  Christian 
principle  to  the  dignity  of  the  dead  emperor.  For  it  was  that 
same  Ambrose  who  met  the  Emperor  Theodosius  at  the  church 
door  and  drove  him  from  the  consecrated  threshold  and  from 
the  communion  of  the  faithful,  because  the  blood  of  the  people 
of  Thessalonica  was  on  his  hands.  No,  it  was  a  duty  which 
the  great  bishop  knew  that  he  owed  to  the  catechumen  whom 
death  had  so  suddenly  snatched  away.  And  were  he  here 
to-day  he  would  speak  and  act  in  like  manner  towards  this  our 
friend,  who  years  ago  declared  his  intention  of  becoming  a 


Funeral  Ceremonies  In  the  Senate  Chamber.          23 

member  of  the  old  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  who,  when  the  duties 
of  public  life,  which  he  then  thought  he  had  laid  aside  for- 
ever, again  seized  on  him  and  absorbed  him,  though  he  tem- 
porarily delayed  the  final  step,  never  retracted  his  expressed 
determination  to  take  it,  who  all  these  years  has  spoken  and 
acted  as  if  he  were  already  in  full  membership,  and  who,  had 
time  been  given  him -at  the  last,  would  assuredly,  as  his  family 
well  knew,  have  asked  for  the  grace  and  consolation  of  her 
sacred  rites. 

What  Ambrose  did  fifteen  hundred  years  ago  we,  his  suc- 
cessors in  the  holy  ministry,  do  to-day.  And  his  eminence 
Cardinal  'Gibbons  finding  it  impossible  to  fulfill  this  sad  duty 
himself,  glad  am  I  that  to  me  should  fall  the  honor  of  filling 
his  place;  for  during  the  eleven  years  that  Richmond  was  my 
home  and  Virginia  the  field  of  my  episcopal  labors  I  shared  in 
the  pride  that  every  Virginian  felt  at  having  for  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  proud  old  State  in  the  national  Congress  so 
honorable,  so  high-toned,  so  spotless  a  man  as  JOHN  S.  BAR- 
BOTJR.  When,  about  six  years  ago,  shortly  after  the  untimely 
death  of  his  saintly  and  beloved  wife,  he  gave  me  to  under- 
stand that  soon  we  would  be  fellow  Catholics,  I  rejoiced  that 
the  luster  which  his  civic  virtues  reflected  on  his  State  and  the 
honor  which  his  public  career  did  to  his  whole  country  was 
likewise  to  be  shared  in  by  the  old  church  of  all  the  ages,  the 
mother  of  saints  and  heroes  and  sturdy  upright  men  and  women 
in  every  age  and  clime  and  condition  of  human  life.  Their 
lives  are  a  testimony  to  her  which  she  values  highly  because 
of  its  utility  to  their  fellow-men. 

In  this  age  of  intense  activity,  when  absorption  in  temporal 
pursuits  so  often  makes  men  unmindful  of  their  eternal  inter- 
ests ;  when  the  hard- wrought  children  of  men  are  so  prone  to 
think  that  fidelity  to  the  business  of  this  life,  renders  it 
impossible  to  be  busy  about  the  life  to  come;  when  Caesar's 


24          Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber. 

claims  are  so  imperious  and  so  all-pervasive  that  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  spiritual  order  is  apt  to  be  considered,  as  her 
Divine  Founder  was,  an  intruder,  a  usurper,  a  disturber  of  the 
public  peace — in  such  an  age  that  man  is  a  benefactor  to  his 
race  who  by  the  example  of  his  life  gives  practical  proof  that 
it  is  possible  and  easy  to  be  at  the  same  time  an  energetic 
business  man  and  yet  a  man  of  prayer,  to  be  an  active  poli- 
tician and  yet  a  conscientiously  religious  man,  to  be  a  clear- 
sighted American  statesman  and  yet  a  firm  believer  in  the  old 
Catholic  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Soon  this  Senate  Chamber  will  resound  with  eloquent  tributes 
to  the  admirable  character  and  the  eminent  public  services  of 
this  good  and  noble  man.  Would  that  the  sound  of  those  eulo- 
gies might  reach  so  far  and  sink  so  deep  into  the  heart  of  the 
nation  that  all  his  fellow-citizens  might  thereby  be  spurred  to 
emulate  his  civic  virtues.  Would  that  the  moral  of  his  life 
might  inspire  good  men  everywhere  with  a  better  appreciation 
of  their  duty  to  their  country,  with  a  firm  resolve  that  no  pri- 
vate considerations  should  hinder  them  from  taking  their  full 
part  in  safeguarding  the  public  interests,  instead  of  leaving 
them  to  the  mercy  of  selfishness  and  greed.  Would  that, 
before  this  example  of  clean-handed  public  service,  venality 
and  corruption  might  cower  in  shame  and  disappear  from  the 
sanctuary  of  our  country's  liberties  forever.  Would  that,  at  the 
sight  of  this  union  of  American  statesmanship  with  Catholic 
faith,  the  outcry  of  religious  animosity,  so  out  of  place  in  this 
land  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  might  forever  be  hushed. 
And,  oh,  would  that,  above  all,  the  silent  eloquence  of  this 
impressive  spectacle  might  indelibly  imprint  on  the  mind  of  our 
country  and  on  the  minds  of  all  her  public  men  that  lesson  so 
solemnly  taught  us  by  Washington  in  his  Farewell  Address, 
that  the  absolutely  indispensable  foundation  and  props  of 
national  prosperity  must  be  morality  and  religion. 


Funeral  Ceremonies  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  25 

Grant,  O  Heavenly  Father,  that  such  may  be  the  beneficent 
fruit  of  the  life  and  the  death  of  this  good  man.  From  his 
example  may  there  go  forth  an  influence  to  purify  and  to  elevate 
the  life  of  his  people.  May  his  country,  which  so  lovingly  hon- 
ors his  memory  and  so  sincerely  deplores  his  loss,  reap  profit 
from  the  practical  lesson  which  his  death  bequeaths  to  all  her 
citizens.  May  his  testimony  to  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  strengthen  that  faith  in  the  souls  of  us  all  and  make  it 
invulnerable  against  the  attacks  of  unbelief.  And  as  Thy 
holy  Pontiff,  St.  Ambrose,  prayed  for  the  soul  of  his  beloved 
catechumen,  so  do  we  implore  thee,  O  Father  of  Mercies  and 
God  of  all  consolation,  to  deal  in  sweetest  mercy  arid  love  with 
the  soul  of  this  Thy  servant.  Eternal  rest  grant  unto  him,  O 
Lord,  and  let  perpetual  light  shine  upon  him.  May  he  rest  in 
peace.  Amen. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  The  committee  of  arrangements  will 
escort  the  remains  of  the  deceased  Senator  from  the  Chamber, 
and  after  the  guests  of  the  Senate  have  retired  the  Senate 
will  accompany  the  body  to  the  residence  of  the  late  Senator 
BARBOUR,  returning  to  the  Chamber  for  further  duty. 

The  casket  was  borne  from  the  Chamber,  and  the  Senate,  as 
a  body,  the  invited  guests,  and  the  clergymen  attended  the 
remains. 

At  2  o'clock  and  10  minutes  p.  m.  the  Senate  returned  to  its 
Chamber,  and  the  Vice-President  resumed  the  chair. 

Mr.  MANDERSON.  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to;  and  (at  2  o'clock  and  11  minutes 
p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned  until  to-morrow,  Tuesday,  May  17, 
1892,  at  12  o'clock  meridian. 


EULOGIES  IN  THE  SENATE. 

FEBRUARY  3, 1893. 

Mr.  DANIEL.  Mr.  President,  I  offer  the  resolutions  which  I 
send  to  the  desk. 

The  VICE  PRESIDENT.  The  resolutions  will  be  read. 
The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  deplores  the  death  of  the  Hon.  JOHN  STRODE 
BARBOUR,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the 
business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  to  enable  his  associates  to  pay 
proper  tribute  of  regard  to  his  high  character  and  distinguished  public 
service. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolu- 
tions to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  DANIEL,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  My  late  colleague,  the  Hon.  JOHN  STRODE 
BARBOUR,  to  whom  we  now  pay  our  parting  tribute,  filled 
exalted  stations  in  the  public  service  of  his  State  and  country 
with  commensurate  ability,  and  closed  here  amidst  his  Sen- 
atorial labors  the  rounded  period  of  a  well-spent  life.  "As 
are  our  days,  so  may  our  strength  be/'  is  the  prayer  of  him 
who  would  fill  earthly  existence  with  unfailing  measure  of 
good  works.  To  him  this  prayer  was  answered. 

27 


28  Address  of  Mr.  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

Although  the  hoary  locks  of  three  score  years  and  ten 
crowned  his  brow,  decay  had  not  marred  his  powers  nor  the 
burden  of  age  bent  his  form.  While  will,  energy,  and  faculty 
responded  to  every  call  of  duty  and  the  heart  still  found  sat- 
isfaction in  the  tasks  of  to-day  and  the  hopes  of  to-morrow, 
the  last  message  that  comes  to  the  living  from  our  Lord  and 
Master  came  unto  him,  and  he  closed  his  eyes  in  peace.  We 
shall  miss  the  good  cheer  of  his  friendship,  the  help  of  his 
counsel,  and  the  fruit  of  his  toil.  We  shall  mourn  alike  the 
public  loss  of  their  valued  servant  and  the  personal  bereave- 
ment that  afflicts  the  hearts  of  many  friends.  But  for  him, 
shall  we  not  rejoice  that  his  mortal  pang  was  brief  and  that 
his  length  of  days  was  filled  to  the  uttermost  with  the  worthy 
deeds  of  a  useful,  an  honorable,  and  a  distinguished  life  ? 

JOHN  STRODE  B ARBOUR  was  born  in  Culpeper  County,  Vir- 
ginia, on  December  the  29th,  1820,  and  died  suddenly  at  his 
residence  in  this  city  about  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Satur- 
day, May  the  14th,  1892,  in  the  seventy- second  year  of  his  age. 
The  day  before  he  occupied  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  had 
been  busy  with  his  accustomed  tasks  5  the  evening  he  had 
spent  in  dispatching  his  correspondence  and  in  social  converse 
with  a  few  of  his  friends  and  neighbors  who  had  called  upon 
him.  When  he  retired  to  rest  it  was  with  the  prospect  that 
years  of  continued  usefulness  stretched  before  him,  and  those 
who  said  "  Good  night"  to  him  had  little  notion  that  the  last 
farewell  was  spoken.  About  daylight  he  awoke  with  pain, 
and  a  physician  was  sent  for,  but  before  remedial  agencies 
could  be  effective  heart  failure  had  done  the  work  of  death, 
and  as  the  city  awoke  to  its  labors  his  spirit  passed  to  its 
eternal  rest. 

At  the  time  of  this  sad  occurrence  I  was  detained  at  my  home 
in  Virginia  by  sickness  and  was  denied  the  privilege  of  sharing 
with  the  Senate  in  the  funeral  honors  paid  to  our  dead  friend ; 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  29 

but  I  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  amongst  his  constituents 
the  general  expressions  of  grief  which  were  elicited  by  his 
death  and  of  realizing  how  greatly  he  was  esteemed  and  how 
deeply  he  was  deplored.  From  all  sections  of  the  State  and  by 
all  classes  of  the  people  were  manifested  tokens  of  sorrow, 
appreciation,  and  regard  5  from  those  who  had  been  with  him 
and  under  him  in  th er  rail  road  service,  those  who  had  shared  his 
political  labors,  and  from  that  wide  circle  of  neighbors  and 
friends  who  were  his  associates  in  the  diversified  walks  of  life. 

The  State  felt  throughout  its  borders  that  it  had  lost  a  citizen 
whose  whole  life  had  been  worthily  devoted  to  the  service  of 
his  people,  and  whose  loss  it  would  be  difficult  to  supply.  In 
terms  of  singular  eloquence  and  power,  his  friend,  the  Hon. 
JOHN  E.  KENNA,  of  West  Virginia  (now,  alas!  no  more), 
announced  his  death  in  the  Senate  on  the  day  of  its  occurrence, 
and  here  in  the  Senate  Chamber  his  funeral  rites  were 
conducted.  Hence  his  remains  were  borne,  attended  by  the 
Congressional  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  and  by  a 
concourse  of  friends,  to  the  family  seat  of  his  deceased  wife  in 
Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  and  there  by  the  side  of  the 
beloved  companion  who  made  life's  journey  with  him  and  who 
had  a  few  years  preceded  him  in  death,  "  Earth  to  earth  and 
dust  to  dust "  was  spoken  over  him. 

The  life  of  JC^HN  S.  B ARBOUR  was  not  one  whose  great  suc- 
cess was  attained  by  sudden  sallies  of  energy  or  by  brilliant 
strokes  of  genius.  It  A\ras  more  than  this — a  life  sustained  by 
a  stable,  steadfast,  and  lofty  purpose  and  by  that  regular,  per- 
sistent, and  continuous  effort  which  alone  can  build  that  which 
endures.  He  was  descended  from  a  family  which  has  furnished 
many  names  distinguished  in  public  annals.  One  of  his  ances- 
tors, James  Barbour,  represented  Culpeper  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  colonial  days. 

His  father,  whose  name  he  bore  and  whose  oldest  son  he 


30  Address  of  Mr.  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

was,  was  a  prominent  lawyer  of  his  county  and  a  member  of 
the  Virginia  convention  that  framed  its  constitution  in  1829  and 
1830,  and  later  a  Representative  in  Congress.  His  kinsman, 
Philip  Pendletou  Barbour,  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Eep- 
resentatives  and  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Another  kinsman,  James  Barbour,  was 
governor  of  Virginia  during  the  war  of  1812,  and  served  as 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  Secretary  of  War,  and  minister 
to  Great  Britain.  Others  of  the  same  family  have  made  note- 
worthy names  in  legal,  literary,  political,  and  business  circles. 

JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  early  in  life  developed  the  ambitious  tend- 
encies and  large  capacities  of  the  family  to  which  he  belonged. 
After  being  well  prepared  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county 
he  attended  lectures  at  the  University  of  Virginia  for  three 
years,  and  graduating  in  the  school  of  law  in  1842  entered 
immediately  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession.  A  few  years 
later,  in  1847,  he  became  a  member  of  the  house  of  delegates  of 
Virginia.  He  was  reeleeted  in  1849,  and  served  altogether  in 
this  capacity  for  four  consecutive  sessions. 

In  1851  his  capacity  for  business  was  recognized  in  his  elec- 
tion by  a  well-nigh  unanimous  vote  of  the  stockholders  to  the 
position  of  president  of  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  Eailroad 
Company,  an  organization  chartered  to  build  a  railroad  from 
Alexandria  to  Gordonsville — a  distance  of  88  miles.  It  was 
in  this  occupation  that  he  found  his  life-work.  Under  his 
administration  the  railroad  was  not  only  built  according 
to  its  early  projection,  but  was  extended  across  the  Common- 
wealth to  the  North  Carolina  line,  and  from  time  to  time  various 
lateral  branches  of  nearly  500  miles  of  aggregate  length  were 
constructed;  and  he  continued  for  thirty- three  years,  until 
December  the  20th,  1884,  the  president  of  the  company  of 
which  he  well  might  be  called  the  father. 

Resigning  the  railroad  service  in  1884,  he  received  from  all 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  31 

who  had  been  associated  with  him  in  his  labors  testimonials 
of  the  utmost  respect  and  appreciation.  The  directors  of  the 
company  entertained  him  at  a  dinner  at  the  Union  League 
Club  in  New  York  and  presented  him  with  a  silver  service, 
accompanied  with  a  beautifully  engrossed  series  of  resolutions 
testifying  their  regret  at  his  retirement.  What  seemed  to  be 
more  touching  to  his  feelings  was  the  tribute  paid  him  by  the 
employes  of  the  company  who  contributed  one  day's  wages  to 
purchase  for  him  a  handsome  watch.  His  parting  with  the 
officials  and  employes  was  characterized  by  every  incident 
tending  to  mark  the  affectionate  regard  in  which  he  was  held 
by  them  all,  and  we  may  well  believe  that  he  spoke  the  sim- 
ple truth  when  he  said  to  them : 

If  the  tongue  fail  in  responsive  eloquence  my  heart  is  full  of  appreciation. 
I  would  remember  with  grateful  feelings  the  constant  kindness,  with  which 
I  have  always  been  treated,  and  I  will  ever  keep  this  token  as  a  memorial 
of  my  connection  with  you.  My  railroad  life  is  my  pride.  While  I  have 
received  other  honors,  while  I  have  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  my  fellow- 
citizens  in  counties  and  districts  in  various  ways  in  my  past  career,  I  take 
most  pleasure  and  satifaction  in  the  hours  I  spent  in  the  business  connec- 
tion with  you,  to  which  I  have  devoted  the  best  years  of  my  past.  In 
these  years  of  service  I  have  formed  associations  with  the  men  in  the  service 
of  the  company  which  I  shall  never  forget.  In  this  work  and  in  this  com- 
pany I  have  found  my  most  cherished  and  congenial  employment.  As  a 
railroad  official  I  trust  I  have  always  done  my  duty  first.  I  hope  also  that 
in  doing  it  I  have  always  had  regard  to  the  feelings  and  interests  of  the 
men  associated  with  me  in  the  operations  of  the  company.  I  regard  the 
time  of  my  connection  with  them  as  the  most  pleasant  of  my  life. 

I  was  recently  the  recipient  from  the  company  that  I  had  lately  served 
of  a  service  of  silver,  which  I  fully  appreciated,  but  on  this  occasion  this 
token  of  regard  from  you  has  far  higher  value.  I  accept  the  gift  with  the 
deepest  sensibility  of  which  I  am  capable.  It  will  always  remind  me 
of  the  useful  and  pleasant  associations  with  the  men  of  the  Virginia 
Midland  Railway. 

Many  of  you  were  associated  with  me  in  the  infancy  of  the  Virginia  Mid- 
land Railway,  and  now  when  it  has  grown  and  is  fully  capable  of  standing 


32  Address  of  Mr.  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

on  its  feet,  I  can  but  regard  this  watch  as  an  emblem  of  the  best  memo- 
rial of  the  work  which  has  been  done  in  accomplishing  this  object.  I  have 
only  to  thank  you  in  all  the  sincerity  of  my  nature  for  your  respect  and 
esteem. 

Looking  on  this  as  one  of  the  most  pleasant  incidents  of  my  life,  your 
valued  gift  must  ever  remind  me  of  my  past  association  with  railroad  men. 
Railroad  men  have  an  important  duty  to  perform.  Some  of  the  highest 
interests  of  the  community  are  in  their  keeping.  That  duty  has  always 
been  so  thoroughly  performed  as  to  give  them  the  confidence  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  live,  and  I  am  glad  to  feel  that  I  have  been  so  long 
and  pleasantly  associated  with  it.  Again  I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  and  will 
detain  you  no  longer. 

No  strike  amongst  the  employes  of  the  company  occurred 
during  the  thirty- three  years  of  his  service.  The  people  of  the 
communities  served  by  the  company  as  well  as  its  employes 
entertained  for  Mr.  B ARBOUR  the  highest  sentiments  of  con- 
fidence and  respect.  It  is  rare  indeed — it  is  almost  without 
a  precedent — that  an  office  should  have  been  conducted,  so 
varied  and  perplexing  in  its  duties,  and  in  which  such 
diverse  interests  must  be  consulted,  with  such  tact  and  justice 
as  to  elicit  golden  opinions  from  all  sorts  of  people,  and  this 
one  fact  speaks  more  for  his  ability  and  for  his  worth  than  a 
yolume  of  eulogy. 

In  1880  the  Hon.  EPPA  HTJNTON,  who  had  represented  the 
Eighth  district  of  Yirginia  for  four  successive  terms  in  Con- 
gress, retired  from  candidacy,  and  the  Democratic  convention 
assembled  to  nominate  his  successor  was  for  awhile  unable  to 
reach  a  conclusion.  Without  Mr.  B ARBOUR  being  a  candidate 
or  seeking  the  position,  his  name  served  as  a  resolvent  of  diffi- 
culties, and  upon  its  suggestion  his  nomination  followed.  He 
was  elected  in  due  course  a  member  of  the  Forty-seventh, 
Forty-eighth,  and  Forty-ninth  Congresses,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  Hon.  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  whose  death  he  himself  announced 
in  this  Chamber  but  a  brief  time  before  we  were  called  upon 
to  mourn  his  own. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  33 

In  1883  political  excitement  in  Virginia  ran  high  and  the 
opponents  of  the  Democratic  party  were  in  complete  ascend- 
ency. The  contentions  as  to  men  and  measures  were  hot  and 
fierce  and  both  sides  ranged  their  forces  for  a  great  struggle. 
At  the  State  convention  of  the  Democracy,  which  assembled 
in  Lynchburg,  by  general  consent  Mr.  BARBOUR  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  party.  The  functions  of  this 
position  he  discharged  with  great  diligence  and  ability,  and 
as  a  result  of  the  victory  which  ensued  his  popularity  was 
widely  extended.  In  December,  1887,  he  was  unanimously 
and  without  rivalry  or  competition  nominated  by  his  party 
caucus  for  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  being  elected 
he  entered,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1889,  upon  the  term  of  service 
of  which  scarcely  two  years  expired  when  death  terminated 
his  labors. 

It  is  difficult  to  analyze  with  accuracy,  as  it  is  difficult  to 
portray  with  skill  the  mental  faculties  and  the  personal  charac- 
teristics of  a  man  of  affairs  such  as  Senator  BARBOUR  was,  and 
yet  I  fancy  that  certain  salient  features  of  mind  and  method 
may  be  readily  recognized  in  him  and  in  his  life.  His  mind 
was  comprehensive,  discerning,  and  discreet,  and  was  well 
stored  with  common  sense.  He  was  eminently  practical  in  his 
aims  and  methods,  but  in  pursuit  and  practice  he  never  trans- 
scended  the  instinctive  modesty  of  the  well  bred  gentleman, 
nor  relaxed  the  firm  purpose  of  the  determined  and  well  col- 
lected man. 

He  was  broaa,  liberal,  and  charitable  in  his  opinions — a 
cautious  and  sagacious  counselor,  foresighted,  industrious  in 
duty,  seldom  impulsive,  but  always  persistent,  capable  of  sus- 
tained and  well  directed  effort,  singularly  devoid  of  the  nar- 
rowness of  the  bigot,  the  vehemence  of  the  zealot,  and  the 
vindictiveness  of  the  mean.  His  political  opponents  he  never 
judged  with  harshness.  He  knew  the  measure  of  respect  due 
S.  Mis.  04 3 


34  Address  of  Mr.  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

others  and  to  their  opinions;  he  knew  the  allowances  which 
must  be  made  by  all  who  seek  just  judgment  for  the  diversities 
and  the  contrarieties  of  environment,  education,  interests,  and 
sentiment.  I  have  seldom  if  ever  known  a  man  who  cherished 
so  little  the  bitterness,  rivalry,  and  jealousy  which  are  natur- 
ally excited  by  sharp  conflicts.  He  was  stronger  in  his  likes 
than  in  his  dislikes,  as  are  most  rich  and  generous  natures. 
He  loved  to  serve  others  and  to  see  others  prosper. 

As  a  public  man  he  served  many  from  whom  no  selfish  calcu- 
lation could  anticipate  return  of  favor.  Kespectful  and  accessi- 
ble to  all  alike,  he  gave  friendly  ear  and  hand  to  the  humble 
without  condescension,  and  he  had  no  disposition  to  fawn  upon 
the  great.  He  was  honest,  independent,  and  outspoken  in  his 
opinions,  criticising  freely,  but  without  acerbity.  He  had  little 
disposition  to  be  dogmatic,  and  no  one  listened  more  agreeably 
to  suggestion  or  sought  more  studiously  to  profit  by  it.  His 
career  was  characterized  by  a  profound  and  unvarying  wisdom 
rather  than  by  isolated  acts  of  swift  and  brilliant  inspiration. 

No  party  leader  could  have  been  freer  from  just  imputation 
of  attempting  bossism.  He  had  not  the  spirit  that  would 
brook  assumption,  intolerance,  and  dictation  on  the  part  of 
others,  and  he  never  evinced  a  disposition  to. set  up  pretensions 
to  undue  power  in  himself,  and  my  respect  and  admiration  for 
him  as  a  man  and  as  an  official  continually  increased  as  I  wit- 
nessed the  patriotic  considerations  that  controlled  his  public 
career.  I  rejoice  that  our  relations  were  firmly  established  in 
friendship,  and  that  I  am  enabled  from  knowledge  to  bear  this 
testimony  to  his  worth.  He  was  an  honor  to  the  Common- 
wealth which  sent  him  here,  and  I  mourn  him  as  a  servant  who 
was  loyal  to  every  interest  confided  to  his  hands,  and  as  a  friend 
whose  ready  instincts  responded  to  whatever  was  noble,  gen- 
erous, and  kind. 

Senator  BARBOUR  was  a  life-long  Democrat  and  a  firm 


Life  and  Character  of  fohn  S.  Barbour.  35 

believer  in  those  fundamental  creeds  of  democracy  which 
are  so  deeply  implanted  in  the  bosom  of  our  race — the  love 
of  individual  right,  local  right,  home  right,  and  public  right. 
While  his  mind  was  schooled  in  the  law  and  he  had  liberal 
culture  and  extensive  information  his  experience  and  wrestles 
with  the  hard  forces  of  economic  and  political  strife  had 
expanded  it  beyond  the  technicalities  of  pedantic  learning. 
He  dealt  with  great  issues  with  a  breadth  and  scope  of 
judgment  which  transcended  the  lines  of  special  pleading. 

The  rough  verity  of  nature  to  its  principles  and  the  stead- 
fast trend  of  Providence  to  its  achievements,  furnished  him 
models,  standards  higher  and  truer  than  those  which  may  be 
found  in  subtle  dialectics;  while  the  ennobling  and  softening 
teachings  of  the  Christian  creed  found  fruitage  in  his  many 
acts  of  loving  kindness  and  in  the  cheer  and  grace  of  his 
hospitable  fireside. 

Senator  BARBOUR  was  not  a  public  speaker  and  seldom 
appeared  upon  the  hustings.  When  he  did  he  usually  con 
tented  himself  with  the  enunciation  of  his  position  on  public 
questions,  leaving  to  others  the  task  of  advocacy;  but  he 
wielded  a  pen  that  was  ready  and  vigorous  in  its  powers  of 
expression,  and  when  he  spoke  in  the  Senate,  as  he  did  on 
several  occasions,  his  colleagues  were  impressed  with  the 
clearness,  directness,  and  force  with  which  he  stated  and 
enforced  his  views.  Senator  BARBOUR  was  very  diligent  in 
service  to  his  constituents  and  in  attention  to  the  various 
measures  in  which  they  were  interested.  His  patience  was 
untiring,  and  his  labors  were  vast  in  lines  of  investigation  and 
exertion  which  were  not  conspicuous  to  public  view  nor  cal- 
culated to  elicit  public  notice. 

The  usefulness  of  Senator  BARBOUR'S  life  was  its  great  and 
crowning  characteristic.  He  was  faithful  to  the  community 
in  which  he  lived,  and  a  moving  spirit  in  its  public  works. 


36        Address  of  Mr.  Manderson,  of  Nebraska,  on  the 

He  was  useful  to  his  family  connections,  doing  the  worthy  part 
of  the  true  kinsman,  to  cherish  and  advance  their  welfare. 
He  was  useful  to  his  neighbors  and  associates,  and  was  trusted 
and  consulted  and  beloved  by  them.  He  was  useful  to  his 
State,  of  whose  good  name  he  was  jealous  5  to  whose  fortunes 
he  was  devoted;  whose  history  and  traditions  he  fondly  loved, 
and  whose  people  he  honored  and  faithfully  served.  He  was 
useful  to  his  country,  and  in  its  high  places  he  set  a  note- 
worthy example  of  patriotism,  decorum,  and  moderation. 

Our  friend's  task  is  done.  At  the  ripe  age  of  72  his  life, 
well  filled  in  its  sum  of  joys  and  sorrows,  and  well  filled,  too, 
in  well  accomplished  works,  has  expired  like  a  flame  which, 
while  shedding  a  bright  and  gracious  light,  is  suddenly 
extinguished.  We  may  rejoice  that  ere  feeble  nature  sunk 
under  the  weight  of  years,  ere  withered  powers  made  mockery 
of  former  pride,  ere  disappointment  added  poignancy  to  the 
well-filled  cup,  he  has  passed  from  work  to  rest. 

He  remains  with  us  a  pleasant,  wholesome,  and  ennobling 
memory.  His  friends,  whose  names  are  legion,  will  keep  alive 
his  endearing  traits  and  virtues,  and  his  State  and  country 
will  write  his  name  in  their  story  as  a  wise  legislator  and  true 
patriot  who  loved  and  served  them  well. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MANDERSON,  OF  NEBRASKA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  interesting  details  of  the  symmetrical 
life  and  well-rounded  career  of  JOHN  S.  BARBOTJR  have  been 
given  to  the  Senate  by  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  was 
his  associate  and  colleague  in  the  performance  of  public  duty 
in  this  Chamber.  The  recital  is  like  unto  a  stately  march  to 
sweetest  music. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  37 

From  the  forming  of  the  column  in  the  Old  Dominion,  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  down  through  the  long  line  to 
the  time  when  the  parade  was  dismissed,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  dome  of  the  nation's  Capitol,  the  movement  was  regular 
and  majestic. 

There  is  in  its  contemplation  profound  satisfaction  to  all  who 
witnessed  it,  and  to  those  entirely  familiar  with  it  solace  and 
consolation  that  overcome  grief  and  bereavement. 

To  the  boy  child,  born  in  Virginia  in  1820,  there  was  the  boon 
of  distinguished  ancestry  and  the  comforting  sense  of  honorable 
family  antecedents  to  excite  honest  pride  and  compel  that  sense 
of  noblesse  oblige  that  is  the  main  spur  to  heroic  endeavor  and 
noble  deeds. 

His  great  grandfather,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  the  old  colonial  days,  his  grandfather  equally  prominent  in 
the  great  State  whose  boundaries  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Republic  were  from  tidewater  to  the  setting  sun,  his  father  a 
Representative  from  his  district  in  the  Congress,  with  a  great 
uncle  Speaker  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives  and 
a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
another  great  uncle  governor  of  his  state,  Secretary  of  War, 
Minister  to  England  and  United  States  Senator,  there  came 
to  young  BARBOUR,  with  the  natural  pride  in  his  ancestry, 
deep  obligation  to  keep  the  treasured  name  unsullied.  He 
might  indeed  say,  honor  is  the  very 

Jewel  of  our  house,  bequeathed  down  from  my  ancestors. 

To  this  advantageous  birthright  was  added  a  course  in  that 
great  university  that  is  the  pride  and  boast  of  Virginia.  If 
Thomas  Jefferson  had  no  other  claim  to  the  gratitude  and 
reverence  of  his  countrymen,  the  fact  that  his  enlightened 
views,  progressive  spirit,  and  far-seeing  vision  prompted  him 
to  take  steps  for  the  founding  and  rearing  of  that  great 


38       Address  of  Mr.  Manderson,  of  Nebraska,  on  the 

school,  which  has  trained  for  the  public  service  so  many 
master  minds,  would  be  sufficient. 

Acquiring  the  profession  of  the  law  and  embarking  in  its 
practice  in  his  native  county  of  Culpeper,  there  came  that  suc- 
cess that  showed  his  fitness  for  it ;  for  in  law  as  in  war,  "  suc- 
cess is  the  criterion  of  generalship."  He  had  that  j  udicial  turn 
of  mind  that  would  probably  have  brought  his  steps  to  the 
bench,  had  they  not  been  led  by  ambition  for  the  speedier  fame 
that  came  from  political  life  and  the  more  assured  fortune  flow- 
ing from  connection  with  one  of  the  great  enterprises  that 
were  extending  roads  of  iron  throughout  all  our  borders. 

The  fortune  came  from  thirty  years  of  labor  in  that  most 
exacting  of  pursuits,  the  management  and  control  of  a  great 
railroad. 

Just  as  surely  as  the  ponderous  engine,  pulsating  with 
apparent  life  and  the  impersonation  of  energy,  wears  itself 
out  at  last  and  is  thrown  to  the  waste  heap,  so  the  vigorous, 
energetic  man,  who  seems  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  advance  the 
corporate  interests  intrusted  to  him,  finds  the  time  come  when 
physical  failure  and  mental  wreck  result. 

Fortunately  for  our  friend  there  came  surcease  of  the  destroy- 
ing labor  inc  ident  to  corporate  control  in  the  demands  of  the 
political  life  that  brought  him  fame  and  well-earned  renown. 

In  politics  he  reached  the  culmination  by  orderly  approaches. 
His  was  no  sudden  leap  full-armed  into  the  national  arena. 
Four  sessions  of  service  in  the  legislature  of  his  State,  and 
three  consecutive  terms  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
brought  him  to  this  Chamber  by  well-worn  paths,  and  permit- 
ted no  obstacle  in  the,  way  of  performance  of  his  duty  in  com- 
mittee and  on  the  floor.  He  was  not  a  showy  member  of  the 
Senate.  Modest  and  retiring  by  nature,  he  cared  nothing  for 
forensic  display  or  oratorical  pyrotechnics.  None  the  less  he 
did  his  full  duty  as  legislator,  and  the  public  business  entrusted 
to  him  received  ample  consideration  and  painstaking  attention. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Harbour.  39 

His  march  of  life  ended  in  May  last.  Death  came  in  form 
the  most  acceptable.  No  lingering  illness  with  its  hours  of 
suffering  and  painful  anticipation  of  the  end.  He  was  with 
us  performing  his  task  during  the  day,  the  evening  was  spent 
in  his  library  in  converse  with  family  and  friends.  The  morn- 
ing's sun  rose  and  with  it  his  spirit  left  the  clay.  How  vain 
the  speculation  as  to- whither  it  went. 

It  was  a  brave  spirit  and  a  noble,  actuating  JOHN  S.  BAR- 
BOUR  to  deeds  that  force  our  respect  and  to  achievements 
that  command  our  admiration. 

We  believe  it  to  be  an  indestructible  essence,  and  whether 
its  future  shall  be  in  other  spheres,  or  whether  it  shall  assume 
another  incarnation  we  know  not;  but  are  content  that  in  this 
body,  herewith  us,  and  in  this  form  so  familiar  to  us,  it  prompted 
to  all  that  was  good  and  "  acted  well  its  part." 

We  who  have  crossed  over  the  center  line  of  life  find  that 
day  by  day  there  is  increase  of  those  who  will  welcome  us  on 
the  other  shore. 

Men  drop  so  fast  ere  life's  mid  stage  we  tread 
Few  know  so  many  friends  alive  as  dead. 

It  is  well  that  it  is  so,  for  from  the  fact  comes  reconcilement 
to  the  inevitable. 

Last  night  as  I  looked  through  the  Kecord  for  the  tribute 
paid  to  Senator  BARBOUR'S  memory  on  the  occasion  of  his 
decease  it  was  with  deep  interest  I  saw  that  the  announcement 
of  his  death  was  made  by  Senator  KENNA. 

The  fact  had  passed  from  my  memory,  but  as  I  read  the 
eloquent  tribute  to  the  dead  Virginian  by  the  living  West 
Virginian  how  vividly  did  I  recall  the  scene.  The  youthful 
orator,  who  but  yesterday  was  one  of  us,  has  also  joined  the 
vast  majority.  In  the  early  days  of  the  first  session  of  this 
Congress  there  died  the  virile,  active,  energetic  Senator  from 


40       Address  of  Mr.  Manderson,  of  Nebraska,  on  the 

the  State  of  Kansas,  PRESTON  B.  PLUMB.  Senator  KENNA 
made  reference  to  his  untimely  taking  off,  and,  as  though  he 
held  in  hand — 

That  golden  key 

That  opes  the  palace  of  eternity — 

said  impressively : 

Mr.  President,  in  this  second  sudden  visitation  of  Providence  in  the 
present  session  of  the  Senate,  we  recognize  a  power  in  whose  inscrutable 
wisdom  we  were  born  to  live  and  in  the  presence  of  whose  unchallenge- 
able majesty  we  are  born  to  die. 

These  two  Senators  from  adjoining  States  had  much  in  com- 
mon. They  were  not  only  close  friends  but  near  neighbors  and 
had  an  intimacy  of  knowledge  of  each  other  that  enabled  them 
to  gauge  each  the  other.  In  language  more  eloquent  than  I 
can  give,  JOHN  E.  KENNA  gave  this  estimate  of  the  character 
and  tribute  to  the  memory  of  JOHN  S.  BABBOUB. 

He  said : 

And  yet,  Mr.  President,  speaking  for  myself  and  making  frank  expres- 
sion of  the  inspiration  of  which  this  solemn  occasion  possesses  me,  I  have 
felt,  as  the  associate  and  neighbor  and  friend  of  Mr.  BARBOUR,  that  mem- 
ories of  his  private  virtues  and  public  career,  elevated  and  clean,  and 
noble  as  they  were,  give  back,  at  least  in  some  degree,  a  compensation  from 
the  grave.  They  soften  by  the  sweet  influences  which  radiate  from  the 
consciousness  of  a  life  well  spent  the  asperities  of  grief  which  nature 'is 
prone  to  indulge  on  occasions  like  this.  This  death  is  to  my  mind  the  gath- 
ering of  ripened  fruit,  the  garnering  of  the  sheaf  in  the  full  measure  of  its 
golden  maturity. 

JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  was  in  all  the  relations  of  this  world  an  elevated  char- 
acter and  an  upright  man.  His  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  bore 
practical  fruit.  His  genius  for  affairs  made  monuments  in  the  business 
and  public  walks  of  men,  as,  in  a  narrow  sphere,  his  humanity  made  grati- 
tudes which  will  follow  like  angels,  guarding  him  to  the  tomb. 

When  the  Senate,  as  is  its  custom,  shall  have  set  apart  a  day  to  be 
devoted  to  the  recounting  of  his  manly  virtues,  and  the  exhibition  of  the 
elements  of  his  lofty  character,  it  will  be  seen  of  all  that  his  traits  were 
above  those  of  most  of  his  fellow-men ;  that  he  was  useful  and  valuable  to 
his  country  and  his  countrymen ;  that  he  practiced  justice  and  fair  dealing; 
that  he  was  imbued  with  a  love  of  right;  that  he  gave  example  worthy  of 
emulation  by  youth  as  well  as  by  age,  and  that  he  moved  and  had  his  being, 
without  ostentation  or  form,  in  the  reverence  and  veneration  of  his  God. 


Lije  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  41 

Choice  words  fitly  spoken.     Great  heart's  tribute  to  great 
heart.    It  can  well  be  said  of  either,  now  that  both  are  gone — 

Calmly  lie  look'd  on  either  life,  and  here 
Saw  nothing  to  regret,  or  there  to  fear; 
From  nature's  temperate  feast  rose  satisfied ; 
Thank'd  Heav'n  that  he  had  lived,  and  that  he  died. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FAULKNER,  OF  WEST  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  can  not  permit  this  occasion  to  pass  with- 
out paying  my  humble  yet  sincere  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  of  Virginia. 

Representing,  as  I  do,  in  part,  a  State  that  thirty  years  ago 
was  a  part  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  and  a  people 
who  are  proud  to  claim  as  a  part  of  their  heritage  the  tradi- 
tions and  history  of  the  mother  State,  it  is  but  natural  that 
since  our  separation  we  have  watched  with  the  deepest  inter- 
est the  progress  of  events  in  that  Commonwealth  and  the  record 
of  her  sons,  to  whom  have  been  committed  to  a  great  extent 
the  destinies  of  her  people. 

Because  of  this  fact,  the  public  record  of  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR 
was  as  thoroughly  known  to  the  people  of  my  State  as  it  was 
to  those  of  his  own  that  he  served  so  loyally,  but  personally  I 
had  never  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance  until  he  was 
sworn  in  as  a  member  of  this  body. 

Assigned  to  a  seat  next  to  the  one  I  occupied,  and  serving 
with  me  upon  two  committees,  I  soon  learned  to  appreciate 
his  many  valuable  qualities  and  to  seek  his  counsel  in  reference 
to  many  public  questions  of  mutual  interest  to  those  we  rep- 
resented. As  our  acquaintance  rapidly  ripened  into  a  warm 
friendship,  and  those  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  heart 
which  stamped  upon  him  his  individuality  became  better 
known  to  me,  I  learned  to  appreciate  most  highly  those  char- 


42     Address  of  Mr.  Faulkner,  of  West  Virginia,  on  the 

acteristics  which  had  made  him  the  central  figure  iu  one  of  the 
most  important  crises  of  Virginia's  history. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  was  a  man  possessing  the  highest  elements 
of  leadership,  of  firm  and  accurate  convictions  in  reference  to 
those  fundamental  principles  on  which  must  depend  the  peace, 
tranquillity,  and  perpetuity  of  our  dual  system  of  Govern- 
ment; of  a  fearless  honesty  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions 
upon  any  public  question,  regardless  as  to  whether  at  the  time 
the  position  he  assumed  was  popular  or  unpopular,  relying 
upon  the  sober  second  judgment  of  the  people  to  vindicate  the 
correctness  of  his  action,  and  of  a  tenacity  of  purpose  in  seek- 
ing to  secure  practical  results,  scarcely  surpassed,  if  at  all,  by 
anyone  I  have  met  in  public  life. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  was  not  a  man  of  impulse  or  sentiment,  nor 
was  he  a  dreamer  or  theorist.  His  was  essentially  a  practical 
mind.  Practical  in  legislation,  practical  in  politics,  and  practi- 
cal in  all  the  business  pursuits  in  which  he  engaged,  whatever 
course  he  selected  to  pursue  was  the  result  of  mature  reflection 
and  earnest  conviction.  He  subordinated  everything  to  direct- 
ness of  purpose.  His  success  in  life  was  not  obtained  by  diplo- 
matic maneuvering,  but  by  concentrating  his  powers  for  direct, 
aggressive,  and  unmasked  attack. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  was  one  who  never  sought  to  obtrude  his  opin- 
ions unasked  upon  others,  nor  did  he  hesitate  in  giving  them 
expression  when  duty  or  circumstances  required  him  to  speak, 
and  when  he  gave  expression  to  his  views,  it  was  done  in  no 
hesitating  or  doubtful  manner.  He  was  always  plain,  blunt, 
and  positive  in  his  utterance,  being  careful  to  leave  no  one  in, 
doubt  as  to  the  conclusion  he  had  reached.  He  was  not  a  time- 
server,  and  consequently  his  position  was  never  equivocal. 

As  an  adviser  and  counselor  he  had  few,  if  any,  superiors ; 
possessing  a  quiet,  calm  judgment,  broad  experience,  and  a 
mind  well  stored  with  accumulated  information,  the  result  of 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  43 

years  of  critical  observation  and  deep  reflection,  coupled  with 
a  delicate  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  his  advice  was  sought  by 
friends  and  colleagues,  and  his  wise  counsel  was  received  with 
the  respect  inspired  by  the  confidence  which  his  associates  had 
in  the  correctness  and  accuracy  of  his  judgment. 

Mr.  President,  Virginia  has  been  represented  upon  this  floor 
by  many  of  her  mest  distinguished  sons,  but  I  venture  the 
assertion  that  among  that  brilliant  galaxy  of  statesmen  whose 
patriotism  and  genius  has  assisted  in  guiding  the  destinies  of 
our  nation,  uo  one  among  them  was  more  loyal  to  her  interests, 
more  devoted  to  her  traditions  and  history,  more  sensitive  of 
her  honor,  or  more  truly  representative  of  her  people  than 
JOHN  S.  BARBOUR.  In  his  death  we,  his  associates  in  this 
Chamber,  are  sensible  of  the  fact  that  we  have  experienced  a 
personal  bereavement ;  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  has  been 
deprived  of  the  services  of  a  true,  loyal,  and  representative 
son,  and  the  nation  has  lost  a  wise  and  patriotic  legislator,  a 
pure  and  incorruptible  citizen. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  GALLINGER,  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  was  a  good  man,  and 
no  higher  tribute  will  be  paid  to  him  to-day  than  is  embraced  in 
those  few  simple  words.  He  was  honest,  sincere,  amiable, 
kind-hearted,  benevolent,  and  public-spirited.  Unostenta- 
tious, courtly,  dignified,  and  usually  reticent,  his  great  worth 
was  known  only  to  those  who  associated  with  him,  and  who 
had  thus  come  to  learn  the  sweetness  of  his  nature  and  the 
nobility  of  his  character. 

In  the  Forty-ninth  and  Fiftieth  Congresses  I  was  associated 
with  Mr.  BARBOUR.  During  that  service  we  frequently  met, 
and  I  learned  to  greatly  admire  him.  He  was  a  gentleman  in 


44   Address  of  Mr.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire,  on  the 

the  truest  and  best  sense.  As  a  legislator  lie  was  careful  and 
painstaking,  and  both  in  his  public  and  private  capacity  stood 
deservedly  strong  with  the  people  of  his  State.  He  was  withal 
a  politician  of  more  than  ordinary  sagacity  and  skill,  and  his 
political  associates  in  Virginia  looked  with  great  confidence 
upon  his  management  of  party  affairs. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  made  little  noise  in  the  world,  but  he  was 
nevertheless  influential,  successful,  and  strong.  His  mind  was 
as  clear  as  amber,  and  his  perceptions  wonderfully  quick  and 
intuitive.  A  quiet  man,  he  delighted  and  charmed  those  who 
knew  him  well,  being  a  most  agreeable  companion  and  popular 
host.  Attentive  to  his  legislative  duties  and  devoted  to  his 
books,  he  found  time  to  enjoy  his  farm,  his  horses,  and  his 
friends ;  and  socially  he  was  a  prince  among  men. 

During  my  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  great 
personal  sorrow  came  to  Mr.  BARBOUR.  A  note  of  condolence 
made  him  my  fast  friend,  and  upon  my  advent  to  the  Senate  no 
warmer  hand-grasp  was  received  than  that  from  the  dead  Sena- 
tor. In  the  Senate  we  were  assigned  to  duty  on  the  same 
Committee — the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia — and 
here  the  friendship  of  former  days  was  renewed  and  strength- 
ened. As  a  member  of  that  committee  Mr.  BARBOUR  was 
attentive,  industrious,  and  discriminating.  He  felt  a  great 
interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  present  and  future 
welfare  of  the  city  of  Washington,  and  his  vote  was  always 
given  to  measures  calculated  to  beautify  and  advance  the 
nation's  capital. 

The  last  time  I  saw  him  was  at  a  meeting  of  that  committee, 
and  two  weeks  after,  upon  my  return  from  a  temporary  absence 
to  my  home,  his  seat  in  the  committee  room  was  vacant,  and 
his  gracious  presence  was  withdrawn  from  this  Chamber. 

Mr.  President,  the  greatest  of  dramatists  exclaimed,  "Death, 
a  necessary  end,  will  come  when  it  will  come. "  It  came  to 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  45 

our  distinguished  associate  suddenly  and  unexpectedly.  For- 
tunately he  was  prepared  for  death.  His  life  had  been  pure, 
his  aspirations  lofty,  his  ambitions  patriotic.  He  lived  in  the 
love  of  those  who  knew  him  best;  in  the  respect  of  those 
with  whom  he  associated;  in  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom 
he  dealt. 

Thus  living,  the  best  preparation  for  death  had  been  made 
and  the  transition  was  from  a  world  of  care  and  pain  to  one  of 
peace  and  blessed  enjoyment. 

A  good  man,  a  pure  citizen,  a  faithful  public  servant,  a  high- 
minded,  honorable  gentleman  was  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  and  the 
tributes  of  respect  paid  to  his  memory  to-day  are  but  a  feeble 
and  inadequate  expression  of  the  tenderness  of  feeling  and 
the  strength  of  appreciation  that  those  of  us  who  knew  and 
loved  him  would  gladly  utter. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  PLATT,  OF  CONNECTICUT. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  intense  interest  which  we  feel  and  take 
in  the  active  business  and  affairs  of  life  and  the  sadness  and 
sorrow  with  which  we  receive  the  announcement  of  death  pre- 
sent the  sharpest  contrast  in  human  affairs,  and  to-day  but 
illustrates  this  truth.  This  morning  in  the  Senate  we  listened 
with  attention  to  the  message  of  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
United  States  on  one  of  the  most  important  questions  which 
could  be  presented  to  us;  next,  we  listened  to  an  animated 
discussion  of  one  of  our  great  economic  questions ;  and  now  the 
Senate  is  hushed,  and  we  consider  for  the  hour  death  and  its 
consequences ;  we  recall  the  memory  and  the  virtues  of  tme  of 
our  associates  who  has  gone. 

It  is  a  common  remark  that  no  man  is  neccessary  to  society. 
We  sometimes  think  as  we  see  great  talents,  great  efforts, 


46  Address  of  Mr.  Platt,  of  Connecticut,  on  the 

distinguished  ability  in  our  public  men,  that  they  have  become 
so  essential  to  the  life  of  the  Bepublic,  so  necessary  to  human 
advancement,  that  when  they  drop  out  their  place  can  not 
be  filled.  We  look  at  a  man  to-day  in  vigor  and  in  strength, 
we.  see  that  he  occupies  a  commanding  position  in  legislation, 
in  business,  and  we  feel  that  this  loss  would  be  irreparable.  The 
tension  upon  the  thread  of  life  is  a  little  too  strong  and  the 
thread  suddenly  snaps;  he  is  gone;  yet  on  the  morrow  some 
one  of  the  living  steps  into  his  place,  and  we  say  "  how  soon 
he  is  forgotten." 

In  a  sense  this  is  true,  and  yet  in  another  sense  it  is  not  true. 
Every  good  and  true  man  as  well  as  every  great  man  is  essen- 
tial and  necessary  to  society;  every  man  who  lives  a  good 
and  true  life  becomes  a  part  of  society,  part  of  the  present 
and  part  of  the  future  history  of  the  Government.  The  influ- 
ence of  a  good  man  never  ceases;  death  does  not  put  an  end 
to  it;  it  goes  on  from  year  to  year  and  age  to  age. 

A  nation  is  a  growth.  It  has  a  character  like  an  individual, 
and  as  individual  character  in  its  growth  is  the  sum  of  the 
thought  and  action  of  the  individual,  so  the  national  char- 
acter in  its  growth  is  the  sum  of  the  thought,  the  action,  and 
the  work  of  the  public  man  as  he  represents  the  private  citi- 
zens of  the  nation. 

What  we  do  here  to-day  we  may  feel  will  be  overlooked  in 
the  future;  and  yet  it  can  not  be  lost.  It  effect  must  be  felt 
for  all  time  if  we  are  but  true  and  faithful.  The  sapling  year 
by  year  accumulates  a  little  ring  of  growth,  which  is  overgrown 
by  that  of  the  succeeding  year;  yet  every  ring  remains 
an  essential  part  of  the  tree,  and  will  so  remain  as  long  as 
the  tree  lives.  Thus  whatever  a  true  and  faithful  man  does 
becomes  an  essential  part  of  the  national  growth,  and  will 
remain  as  long  as  the  national  existence  continues. 

These  thoughts  crowd  upon  my  mind  as  I  contemplate  the  loss 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  47 

of  a  Senator  of  the  United  States.  The  roll  of  the  Senate  is  a 
long  one.  Turn  to  the  Manual  and  you  will  observe  that  it  is 
almost  wholly  a  roll  of  the  dead.  The  few  who  are  here  and  the 
great  majority  who  have  gone  comprise  the  roll  of  the  Senate, 
and  yet  of  those  who  have  occupied  seats  in  this  or  the  other 
Senate  Chamber  and  who  have  been  looked  down  upon  from  the 
galleries,  no  man  has  lived  that  Senatorial  life  without  contrib- 
uting in  some  measure  to  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
nation,  to  its  advancement,  its  fflory,  and  its  beneficence  among 
the  people  of  the  earth. 

So  with  our  deceased  comrade.  His  life  has  now  become  a 
part  of  his  country's  history.  It  was  not  permitted  to  him  to  be 
many  years  in  this  body,  he  served  out  barely  half  of  a  single 
term,  yet  what  he  did  here  must  last  forever  as  a  part  of  the 
nation's  growth  and  history. 

1  can  not  speak  of  him  as  critically  as  can  those  who  knew 
him  longest  and  who  were  more  familiarly  associated  with  him, 
yet,  serving  with  him  upon  one  committee,  I  came  to  know  him 
well  enough,  I  think,  to  appreciate  his  character  and  to  respect 
him  fully.  It  seemed  to  me  that  he  was  a  man  who  stood,  as 
it  were,  between  the  old  and  the  new.  There  have  been  great 
changes  in  this  country,  great  changes  in  the  methods  of  leg- 
islation as  well  as  of  business,  great  changes  in  the  habits,  of 
the  bearing  and  the  style  of  men,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
Senator  BARBOUR  represented  the  old  order  and  the  new  order. 
He  was  courtly  and  dignified,  with  a  kind  of  semi-aristocracy 
in  his  bearing  like  the  men  of  the  old  school,  and  yet  he  was 
simple  and  unostentatious,  genial,  social,  and  absolutely  demo- 
cratic in  all  his  walks  and  tastes.  He  was  a  man  of  the  people 
and  of  the  present,  and  yet  had  much  in  his  bearing  and  habits 
which  reminded  us  of  the  past,  and  seemed  to  connect  the 
present  with  the  past. 

He  was  not  an  orator,  but  he  was,  as  has  been  remarked, 


48  Address  of  Mr.  Platt,  of  Connecticut,  on  the 

distinguished  for  his  practical  knowledge  and  his  practical 
ability.  He  could  not  split  hairs  with  the  logicians;  he 
could  not  charm  the  Senate  and  listening  galleries  with 
eloquence;  but  he  could  go  directly  to  the  core  of  things  and 
determine  what  was  right.  He  was  a  man  of  convictions;  he 
weighed  things  carefully;  he  looked  at  both  sides  of  a  ques- 
tion; and  having  weighed  things  and  having  looked  at  both 
sides  of  a  question,  he  formed  his  judgment,  and  from  that 
judgment  he  never  swerved,  He  was  not  susceptible  to  any 
of  the  influences  which  the  outside  world  supposes — and 
wrongly  supposes  —  sometimes  influence  legislators.  When 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  as  to  what  was  right  and  proper 
with  regard  to  a  measure  pending  in  this  body  the  question 
of  his  action  was  settled. 

I  believe  that  perhaps  the  most  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  our  friend  who  has  gone  was  the  capacity  which  fitted  him 
to  make  and  enjoy  friendships.  His  nature  was  a  very  lov- 
able nature;  his  heart  went  out  toward  others,  and  largely 
without  regard  to  their  station  in  life.  He  had  as  kindly  and 
true  an  interest  in  the  common  people  as  in  the  more  favored, 
and  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  people  of  Virginia  felt  that  they 
had  sustained  an  almost  irreparable  loss  when  he  was  taken 
away. 

The  man  who  has  the  capacity  for  friendship  is  a  fortunate 
man,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  him.  Friendship  has  been 
said  to  be,  and  I  believe  it  is,  the  master  passion.  It  is  the 
one  thing  to  be  prized  in  this  world.  If  I  could  have  wealth, 
fame,  or  friendship,  and  had  to  choose  between  them,  I  should 
say,  "Perish  wealth  and  fame,  so  that  I  may  enjoy  true 
friendship." 

A  friend  is  worth  all  hazards  we  caii  run ; 
Poor  is  the  friendless  master  of  a  world. 
A  world  in  purchase  of  a  friend  is  gain. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  49 

I  am  sure  that  in  this  quality  of  humanity  Senator  BARBOUR 
was  fortunate  and  rich  indeed. 

So  to-day  we  come  to  say  a  kindly  and  sad  farewell  to  our 
absent  comrade.  We  who  knew  him  respected  his  worth ;  we 
admired  his  manly  and  noble  character ;  we  appreciated  and 
cherished  his  warm  and  generous  friendship.  Our  farewell 
does  not  imply  forgatfulness,  for  our  brother  will  always  live 
in  our  memory  and  affection. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HILL,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  New  York  unites  with  her  sister  State  of 
Virginia  in  paying  her  tribute  of  respect  to  the  distinguished 
son  of  the  Old  Dominion  whose  death  we  are  to-day  lamenting. 

The  loss  is  not  to  Virginia  alone — it  is  to  the  Empire  State, 
and  to  the  Union  as  well. 

We  have  listened  with  unbounded  interest  to  the  able  and 
eloquent  eulogy  of  the  deceased  by  his  surviving  colleague^ 
who  knew  him  so  intimately  and  well,  and  nothing  which  I  can 
utter  upon  this  occasion  can  add  anything  to  what  has  been  so 
appropriately,  beautifully,  and  feelingly  expressed.  Virginia  is 
the  home  of  orators,  and  when  her  representatives  have  spoken 
others  naturally  feel  as  though  a  respectful  silence,  or  at  least 
the  utterance  of  a  few  brief,  plain  words  is  the  best  contribution 
that  can  supplement  their  magnificent  efforts,  which  we  always 
so  greatly  admire. 

Senator  BARBOUR  was  himself  a  man  of  few  words,  delib- 
erate in  action,  strong  in  execution,  plain  in  speech,  sincere  in 
his  friendships,  and  faithful  to  his  cherished  principles.  I  need 
not  tell  his  survivors  around  this  circle  that  he  was  strong  and 
wise  in  counsel,  because  none  appreciated  it  more  than  we. 
His  record  in  this  body  was  not  distinguished  by  brilliant 

S.  Mis.  04 4 


50  Address  of  Mr.  Hill,  of  New  York,  on  the 

orations  and  impassioned  debate,  but  he  was  a  safe,  cool, 
earnest,  and  thoughtful  counselor  in  all  that  pertained  to  the 
welfare  of  his  country. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  began  some  years  since,  and  it 
was  renewed  when  I  became  a  member  of  this  Senate  a  year 
ago.  I  learned  to  look  up  to  him  as  one  of  the  fathers  of  this 
body,  who  was  ever  ready  to  advise,  to  direct,  and  to  assist 
its  new  and  untried  members.  A  pleasant  smile  and  a  cordial 
greeting  awaited  every  one  who  approached  him.  I  am  sure 
that  he  had  not  an  enemy  here,  and  he  did  not  deserve  to  have 
any  anywhere  in  the  wide  world.  My  association  with  hi  m 
here,  brief  though  it  was,  soon  ripened  into  a  strong  and 
enduring  friendship.  It  grew  quickly,  it  strengthened  by  daily 
intercourse,  and  nothing  but  death  itself  could  sever  it. 

I  do  not  forget  the  fact  that  in  the  interparty  contest  of  lasfc 
year  he  was  my  political  friend ;  firm,  unyielding,  and  true. 
It  was  a  critical  period  when  friendships  were  tested  and 
strained.  Some  were  broken,  some  were  cemented.  He  was 
a  man  of  courage  and  resources,  a  statesman  of  foresight  and 
prudence,  a  skillful  politician  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term — 
honest,  high-minded,  generous,  and  undeviating.  He  hated 
hypocrisy,  fraud,  and  sham  of  every  kind  and  nature.  He 
respected  honest  opposition  in  political  affairs,  but  he  detested 
personalities  and  defamation. 

Let  me  refer  to  an  incident  in  this  connection.  In  the  spring 
of  last  year  two  young  men,  indiscreet  and  overzealous,  anxious 
for  notoriety,  visited  the  capital  of  Virginia  to  speak  at  a  polit- 
ical mass  meeting  designed  to  aid  the  fortunes  of  a  particular 
candidate  for  the  Presidential  nomination.  While  speaking 
for  their  cause,  as  they  had  a  right  to  do,  they  unwisely  trav- 
eled out  of  their  way  to  attack  Mr.  BARB  OUR,  the  then  senior 
Senator  from  that  State,  impugning  his  motives  and  misrepre- 
senting his  position  and  purposes.  He  was  naturally  indig- 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  51 

nant  upon  such  an  assault  by  strangers  in  his  own  State  and 
among  his  own  friends  and  he  quickly  resented  it. 

Well  do  I  recollect  his  flashing  eyes,  his  tremulous  voice, 
his  vigorous  gestures,  and  determined  look  as  he  spoke  of  the 
insult  which  he  regarded  had  been  offered  him,  and  when  he 
announced  to  me  that  he  should  attend  in  person  the  State 
convention  at  Richmond,  which  was  to  be  held  the  following 
week.  When  bidding  me  good-bye  on  that  occasion,  alas  for- 
ever, he  grasped  me  by  the  hand  and  said:  "I  shall  next 
week  appeal  to  the  people  of  Virginia  from  the  attacks  of 
these  men,  and  rest  assured  neither  you  nor  any  of  my  friends 
will  be  disappointed  in  the  result." 

I  left  for  New  York  that  evening,  and  the  next  morning 
Senator  BARBOUR  was  dead.  His  death  came  as  suddenly  as 
a  terrific  peal  of  thunder  in  an  unclouded  sky,  as  a  meteor 
flashing  through  the  heavens,  like  a  strong  oak  of  the  forest 
that  had  fallen  before  the  storm. 

He  was  at  this  time  the  chairman  of  the  Democratic  State 
committee,  the  representative  of  Virginia  upon  the  national 
committee,  and  its  revered  Senator — a  man  of  commanding 
influence  not  only  in  that  State,  but  throughout  the  South. 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  add  that  his  loss  seemed  a  personal 
one  to  myself;  a  strong  friend  and  supporter  had  left  me  in 
an  hour  of  need — a  most  critical  hour.  His  death,  deeply 
mourned  throughout  the  grand  old  State  of  Virginia,  which 
he  loved  so  well,  and  regretted  everywhere,  may  possibly 
have  changed  somewhat  the  whole  political  history  of  the 
country. 

To-day  all  factions,  all  parties,  all  citizens  of  whatever  creed 
or  nationality  pay  tribute  to  his  manly  virtues,  his  sterling 
attributes,  and  his  exalted  patriotism. 

We  have  not  forgotten  that  peculiarly  solemn  and  impressive 
funeral  of  his,  the  first  of  the  kind,  I  believe,  ever  held  in  this 


52          Address  of  Mr.  Hiscock,  of  New  York,  on  the 

Senate  Chamber,  where  the  beautiful  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
his  mother  church  were  administered  in  our  presence,  whereby 
all  were  taught  another  lesson  in  behalf  of  religious  tolerance 
and  Christian  brotherhood  on  earth.  It  was  peculiarly  fitting 
that  such  services  should  be  held  here  over  the  revered 
remains  of  one  of  Virginia's  purest  sons — Virginia,  whose  proud 
Senator  he  was  —  the  State  that  had  given  to  the  country  the 
great  Jefferson,  who  had  done  so  much  for  the  suppression  of 
bigotry  and  proscription,  who  now  sleeps  in  its  soil  and  over 
whose  grave  and  upon  whose  monument  there  is  inscribed  the 
noble  and  imperishable  record  that  he  was  the  author  of  the 
statute  for  religious  freedom  in  Virginia. 

Senator  B ARBOUR  lived  a  noble  and  useful  life ;  he  died  full 
of  honors  which  he  had  grandly  achieved;  his  memory  will 
ever  be  cherished  by  his  mourning  associates  and  by  all  his 
countrymen  who  love  truth,  respect  virtue,  admire  courage, 
and  esteem  fidelity.  Others  knew  him  longer  than  I,  none  had 
a  higher  estimate  of  his  exalted  character.  Reluctant  to  tres- 
pass upon  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  I  could  not  resist  the 
opportunity  which  gratitude  and  affection  alike  prompted  to 
pay  this  brief  and  simple,  though  earnest  and  sincere,  tribute 
to  my  personal  friend — the  friend  of  every  class,  the  friend  of 
justice,  the  friend  of  liberty,  the  friend  of  humanity. 

His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 

So  mix'd  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 

And  say  to  all  the  world,  "  This  was  a  man !  " 


ADDRESS  OF  MR,  HISCOCK,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  We  have  in  public  life  men  numerous  enough 
to  be  fairly  called  a  type,  who  possess  none  of  the  graces  of  ora- 
tory, and  in  the  discussion  of  great  questions  seem  to  be  unable 
to  take  a  part.  Their  expressions  of  opinion  are  confined  to 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  53 

their  votes.  They  seem  also  to  be  wanting  entirely  in  the  arts 
of  the  politician.  They  are  never  discovered  making  combi- 
nations or  attempting  to  assume  leadership.  They  are  quiet 
and  unobtrusive,  and  in  their  private  conversation  are  reti- 
cent in  the  expression  of  opinions. 

Their  judgment,  however,  is  universally  respected,  and  we 
scarcely  know  to  what  element  or  characteristic  in  these  gen- 
tlemen to  attribute  their  strength.  Yet  they  have  it.  They 
enjoy  the  confidence  of  their  friends,  and  represent  communi- 
ties and  States  in  executive  or  legislative  branches  of  the 
Government,  and  seemingly  take  those  positions  without  an 
active  effort  on  their  part  to  secure  them.  And  while,  as  I 
have  said,  in  legislative  bodies  their  expressions  are  confined 
to  their  votes,  their  political  careers  are  always  satisfactory  to 
their  associates  and  constituents;  their  constituents  rarely 
allow  them  to  retire  to  private  life;  and  their  political  careers, 
as  a  rule,  are  long  and  honorable. 

In  my  opinion,  Senator  BARBOUR  was  one  of  the  best  illus- 
trations I  have  ever  known  of  the  type  of  men  whom  I  have 
undertaken  to  describe. 

I  served  with  him  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  here  in 
the  Senate  I  was  associated  with  him  upon  committees.  Quiet 
and  undemonstrative  as  he  was  in  committee,  rarely  giving  more 
than  a  terse  reason  for  his  action,  I  have  never  met  a  gentleman 
whose  opinions  commanded  higher  respect  than  did  his. 

My  colleague  [Mr.  HILL]  has  said  that  the  State  of  New  York 
mourns  this  Virginian,  Mr.  BARBOUR.  That  is  true,  for  Mr. 
BARBOUR,  in  his  plain  way,  was  conservative  in  respect  to  the 
political,  economic,  and  financial  questions  which  have  agitated 
the  country.  He  had  come  to  be  regarded  by  the  people  of  the 
State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part  to  represent  as  a  con- 
servative man;  in  no  sense  a  theorist;  a  man  who  believed  in 
property  and  the  rights  of  property,  in  person  and  the 


54          Address  of  Mr.  Hiscock,  of  New  York,  on  the 

rights  of  person,  who  was  never  in  favor  of  trampling  them 
down. 

We  may  say  of  this  class  of  men  that  in  times  of  political  or  of 
party  excitement,  when  wild  theories  are  obtaining  a  foothold, 
they  are  the  sheet  anchor  of  safety ;  they  are  a  powerful  restrain- 
ing force,  who  are  not  carried  away  either  by  excitement  or  by 
a  desire  to  achieve  or  hold  leadership,  but  are  content  in  their 
own  way  to  discharge  their  duties  honestly  and  faithfully,  and 
willing  to  wait  until  the  storm  blows  over  for  their  reward. 

Associated,  as  I  have  been  with  Mr.  BARBOUR  in  the  other 
and  in  this  branch  of  Congress,  and  in  committees  during  his 
whole  career  here,  I  had  learned  to  know  him  quite  well. 
Belonging  to  opposite  parties,  I  representing  a  money  center 
that  provokes  great  antagonism  from  other  parts  of  the  Union, 
and  he  representing  a  State  somewhat  opposed  to  it,  we  were 
not  infrequently  in  consultation  in  respect  to  measures,  and  I 
came  to  have  the  highest  respect  for  his  character,  for  his 
sagacity,  for  his  absolute  purity  of  purpose,  and  his  integrity 
of  action. 

Few  men  were  less  accustomed  than  Mr.  BAKBOUR  to 
watch  the  vane  to  discover  which  way  the  wind  was  blowing. 
He  had  an  inner  consciousness  which  guided  him,  and  which 
he  seemed  to  feel  was  representative  in  its  character  of  the 
people  whom  he  represented,  and  that  it  was  scarcely  neces- 
sary for  him  to  watch  to  see  whether  he  was  in  line  with  their 
sentiments  or  not. 

Socially  he  was  pleasant,  agreeable,  kindly,  and  endeared 
himself  to  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

He  was  a  man  who,  when  he  died,  the  sentiment  was  not 
one  of  indifference  on  the  part  of  those  who  knew  him;  but  of 
absolute  and  unqualified  regret.  The  young  men  who  read 
history  and  mark  the  career  of  public  men  as  the  guide  and 
inspiration  of  their  own  course,  may  well  study  his  character 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  55 

and  life  record  as  an  illustration  of  what  surely  comes  to  those 
who  do  not  trust  to  genius,  to  their  power  of  persuasion,  to  a 
subtle  ability  to  direct  forces  which  may  be  marshalled  to  pro- 
mote political  advancement,  that  we  commonly  designate  as 
wire-pulling,  as  an  illustration  that  the  highest  honors  fall  to 
the  plain  uncompromising  man,  whose  guide  is  his  common 
sense  and  his  conscience. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HUNTON,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  In  every  age  of  the  world  and  in  every 
country  the  virtuous  and  distinguished  dead  have  been  honored. 
In  the  American  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century  this 
duty  to  the  dead  is  seldom  neglected.  In  some  form  or  in  some 
way  we  show  our  appreciation  of  the  loved  and  honored  ones 
who  go  before  us.  It  is  meet  and  proper  when  one  of  those 
who  but  recently  made  a  distinguished  part  of  this  body  has 
fallen  a  victim  to  the  fell  destroyer  that  those  whom  he  left 
behind  should  pause  and  for  a  brief  moment  lay  aside  the  cares 
and  the  conflicts  of  Senatorial  life  to  speak  of  and  recall  his 
virtues,  and  in  affectionate  language  pay  a  tribute  of  respect 
and  esteem  .to  a  departed  friend. 

In  this  spirit  I  desire  to  speak  of  my  friend,  the  late  Hon. 
JOHN  S.  BARBOUR. 

He  was  born  in  the  county  of  Culpeper,  Virginia,  on  the 
29th  day  of  December,  1820,  and  died  011  the  14th  day  of  May, 
1892,  aged  71  years  and  4J  months.  He  was  educated  at  the 
University  of  Virginia,  then  as  now  one  of  the  finest  institu- 
tions of  learning  in  America. 

He  obtained  his  license  to  practice  law  soon  after  leaving  the 
University,  and  began  a  professional  life  in  his  native  county. 

In  1847  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature.     His  county  was 


56  Address  of  Mr.  Hunton,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

almost  evenly  divided  in  politics,  bat  he  was  elected  four  times 
and  then  voluntarily  retired.  Born  of  distinguished  Demo- 
cratic parents,  he  always  adhered  to  the  principles  of  the 
Democratic  party. 

In  1852  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Orange  and  Alex- 
andria Railroad  Company,  organized  to  build  a  road  from 
Alexandria  to  Gordonsville  to  unite  with  the  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio  Railroad  at  the  latter  point.  He  conducted  this  enter- 
prise with  singular  ability,  and  by  his  great  financial  skill 
extended  his  railroad  first  to  Lyuchburg  and  then  to  Danville. 
This  road,  now  called  the  Virginia  Midland,  forms  a  part  of  the 
great  chain  of  roads  known  as  the  Richmond  and  Danville 
system. 

In  1880,  against  his  protest,  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  represent  the  Eighth 
Virginia  district. 

I  had  declined  a  nomination  for  a  fifth  term.  Mr.  BARBOUR 
was  nominated  in  his  absence  from  the  State  to  succeed  me. 
A  meeting  of  the  Hancock  and  English  Club  held  in  my  town 
soon  after  his  nomination  was  reported  as  follows : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Hancock  and  English  Club  of  Warrenton,  one  day 
last  week,  Gen.  Eppa  Hunton  said  that  he  had  come  to  the  club  to  speak 
of  the  nomination  of  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR.  It  not  only  satisfied  but  gratified 
him.  Within  five  minutes  after  he  heard  of  it  he  telegraphed  his  congrat- 
ulations and  received  this  characteristic  reply : 

"Thanks  for  your  kind  message.  The  public  interests  would  have  been 
better  subserved  by  your  continuance  in  office,  I  am  sure." 

He  did  not  know  within  the  range  of  his  acquaintance  a  better  man,  a 
man  of  better  sense  or  one  having  more  influence,  than  JOHX  S.  BARBOUR. 
He  was  a  diligent,  persevering,  sensible  man,  and  few  Representatives  on 
the  floor  of  the  House  would  prove  more  efficient  than  he.  The  speaker 
could  not  recall  a  day  when  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  did  not  stand  high  in  his 
esteem.  His  intimacy  with  him  had  been  long.  He  knew  him  when  a 
member  of  the  legislature  and  for  many  years  together  as  head  of  one  of 
the  principal  corporations  in  the  State,  and  he  did  not  believe  that  that 
man  lives  who  can  point  to  one  blot  on  his  character.  Upright,  honest, 
intelligent,  influential — who  can  object  to  him.  He  was  modest  withal. 
He  never  desired  a  nomination,  never  sought  it. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  57 

When  his  name  was  first  mentioned  in  connection  with  it  he  forbade  its 
use,  and  he  only  consented  to  accept  a  nomination,  made  without  his 
knowledge,  from  a  high  sense  of  duty.  We  go  into  convention  expecting  to 
give  and  take ;  and  all  of  us  should  rejoice  that  the  outcome  of  the  Alexan- 
dria convention  was  most  favorable — favorable  to  the  election  of  a  true 
Democrat  and  to  the  election  of  Hancock  and  English.  The  Congressional 
ticket  strengthened  the  electoral  ticket.  This  of  itself  should  make  true 
Democrats,  men  disappointed  in  obtaining  their  first  choice,  hail  the  nom- 
ination gladly  and  give  to  it  a  hearty  support.  He  (the  speaker)  would 
not  only  support  it,  but  dp  all  in  his  power  to  ratify  it  in  November  next. 
Gen.  Hunton  concluded  by  offering  the  following  resolution,  Avhich  was 
unanimously  adopted : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Hancock  and  English  Club  of  the  town  of  Warren  ton 
ratify  the  nomination  of  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  of  Alexandria,  and  pledge  him 
a  cordial  and  undivided  support." 

The  sentiments  I  then  expressed  were  held  up  to  the  period 
of  his  death.  Our  subsequent  intercourse  and  his  services 
thereafter  rendered  to  the  State  intensified  these  sentiments 
and  strengthened  the  bond  of  friendship  between  us. 

He  was  again  elected  in  1882.  At  this  time  and  for  several 
preceding  years  the  Republican  party,  under  the  name  of 
Readjusters,  had  obtained  the  political  mastery  in  Virginia, 
and  her  people  looked  with  dire  forebodings  on  the  future  if 
ruled  and  governed  by  this  party.  In  their  extremity  the 
eyes  of  the  patriotic  people  turned  to  Mr.  BARBOUR.  They 
believed  that  he  (if  any  man)  could  bring  victory  to  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  rescue  them  from  the  ruinous  domination  of 
the  party  which  had  controlled  the  State  for  several  years. 

Reluctantly  he  was  induced  to  take  charge  of  the  campaign 
of  1883,  and  by  his  judgment,  his  energy,  and  his  skill  as  a  party 
leader  rescued  his  State  from  the  enemy. 

He  was  again  elected  to  Congress  in  1884,  and  continued  to 
serve  the  Eighth  district  as  its  Representative  in  Congress, 
and  the  whole  State  as  the  chief  executive  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  always  as  the  leader  of  his  party  in  the  State  con- 
ducted it  to  victory. 

He  declined  a  reelection  to  Congress  in  1886,  and  in  1888  he 


58  Address  of  Mr.  Hunton,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  for  the  term  beginning 
the  4th  of  March,  1889,  and  ending  4th  of  March,  1895.  I  need 
not  say  to  his  colleagues  here  that  his  career  in  this  body  of 
distinguished  men  was  honorable  and  useful.  He  was  not  a 
brilliant  debater,  but  was  one  of  the  working  men  of  the 
Senate.  His  judgment  was  always  respected — his  advice  was 
frequently  sought  and  generally  followed.  He  did  a  greafc  deal 
to  shape  the  policy  of  his  party  and  to  mold  the  legislation  of 
Congress. 

But  he  was  not  allowed  to  serve  out  his  term.  In  the  midst 
of  his  honors  and  usefulness  he  was  suddenly  called  away; 
called  to  join  the  dear  wife  he  loved  so  well  and  who  preceded 
him  to  the  tomb,  a  few  years  ;  called  from  family  and  friends 
who  loved  and  honored  him;  called  from  the  service  of  his 
beloved  Virginia  that  was  still  ready  and  willing  to  bestow  her 
highest  honors  upon  him. 

On  Friday  he  was  an  active  member  of  this  Senate.  He 
seemed  unusually  well  that  evening  and  retired  in  good  health 
at  the  usual  bedtime. 

Early  the  next  morning  he  aroused  the  family,  and  before  a 
physician  could  reach  him  the  soul  of  my  friend  was  with  his 
Maker — so  suddenly  he  passed  away  that  only  those  around 
him  knew  that  he  was  sick. 

The  lightning  bore  the  sad  news  to  the  country,  and  there 
was  no  part  of  his  State  that  did  not  mourn  the  death  of  this 
great  and  good  man. 

He  was  the  friend  of  the  needy.  He  was  the  counselor  of 
all  in  distress.  His  purse  was  always  open  to  help  the  virtu- 
ous poor,  and  the  cry  of  mourning  at  his  death  came  up  from 
the  cottage  of  the  poor  as  well  as  the  dwellings  of  the  rich. 

When  his  funeral  obsequies  were  observed  in  this  Chamber 
all  parts  of  his  State  sent  representatives  to  testify  to  the 
high  character  of  the  honored  dead.  The  Chief  Magistrate  of 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  59 

Virginia  and  the  executive  officers  were  here.  Towns,  cities, 
and  counties  sent  their  representatives  to  show  how  well  they 
loved  him  and  how  much  they  mourned  his  death. 

His  distinguishing  characteristic  was  wisdom.  He  was  emi- 
nently a  wise  man.  He  was  a  man  of  affairs.  He  understood 
human  nature,  and  the  motives  which  moved  men  to  action. 
He  measured  up  to  Seneca's  definition,  "Wisdom  does  not  show 
itself  so  much  in  precept  as  in  life,  in  firmness  of  mind,  and 
mastery  of  appetite.  It  teaches  us  to  do  as  well  as  talk,  and 
to  make  one's  actions  and  words  all  of  a  color." 

In  the  language  of  Longfellow,  "Ripe  in  wisdom  was  he, 
but  patient  and  simple  and  childlike." 

I  knew  him  long  and  well.  For  more  than  forty  years  I 
knew  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years  of 
his  life  I  knew  him  intimately.  We  were  close  friends.  I 
mourn  his  death.  Our  paths  through  life  ran  side  by  side.  He 
succeeded  me  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  succeeded 
him  here.  I,  much  more  than  any  Senator,  feel  his  loss. 

His  life  was  singularly  pure  and  upright.  He  filled  many 
high  and  responsible  offices  and  always  filled  them  well.  No 
one  ever  suspected  him  of  any  breach  of  trust.  He  voluntarily 
laid  them  down.  He  was  never  discharged. 

His  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men  was  ever  marked  by 
courtesy  and  kindness.  He  had  no  enemies.  Those  who 
knew  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  as  a  public  man  respected  and  hon- 
ored him  for  his  public  virtues,  his  patriotic  devotion  to  right, 
and  the  high  sense  of  honor  that  crowned  his  every  public  act. 

His  character  shone  brightest  in  the  home  circle  where  he 
was  the  honored  and  considerate  head.  He  was  the  affection- 
ate husband,  the  tender  friend,  and  the  hospitable  and  genial 
host.  No  one  ever  dispensed  a  more  thorough  Virginia  hos- 
pitality. 

He  married  in  1865,  Miss  Susan  Daingerfield,  of  Alexandria, 


60  Address  of  Mr.  Hunton,  of  Virginia. 

Virginia,  who  was  one  of  the  loveliest  characters  I  ever  knew, 
and  in  every  sense  of  the  word  his  helpmeet.  She  preceded 
him  a  few  years  to  the  grave.  He  was  to  her  the  tender  and 
affectionate  husband  5  she  was  to  him  the  devoted  wife. 

From  this  Chamber  he  was  borne  by  loving  hands  to  his  grave 
at  the  homestead  of  his  wife  in  Maryland  and  buried  by  her 
side.  He  lies  on  the  banks  of  this  beautiful  river,  which  alone 
separates  him  in  death  from  his  loved  Virginia. 

It  is  no  invidious  distinction  to  say  that  no  Senator  has  been 
buried  from  this  Chamber  more  respected  than  Senator  BAR- 
BOUR.  None  ever  served  his  constituents  more  faithfully  5  no 
shadow  dims  the  luster  of  his  long  career  j  no  suspicion  mars 
the  completeness  of  his  integrity.  "  Life's  vain  parade  is  over. 
He  walked  with  throngs  of  good  friends ;  now  at  last  he  is  called 
to  pass  alone  the  dread  portals  of  death."  "  Well  done,  thou 
good  and  faithful  servant 5  enter  upon  thy  reward." 

Senator  BARBOUR  had  not  united  himself  with  any  church, 
but  he  was  a  religious  man.  His  soul  was  filled  with  charity, 
the  chief  of  the  Christian  virtues.  If  good  deeds  furnish  a 
passport  to  eternal  rest,  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  is  now  enjoying  his 
reward.  While  we  mourn  his  death  let  us  resolve  to  imitate 
his  virtues  and  emulate  his  good  deeds. 

Mr.  President,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to;  and  (at  4  o'clock 
and  25  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned  until  to-morrow, 
Saturday,  February  4,  1893,  at  11  o'clock  a.  m. 


EULOGIES  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENT- 
ATIVES. 


FEBRUARY  25, 1893. 

The  SPEAKER:   The  hour  of  half  past  3  o'clock  having 
arrived,  the  Clerk  will  report  the  special  order. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  Saturday,  the  25th  day  of  February,  beginning  at  3 : 30 
o'clock  p.  m.,  be  set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  paying  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  Hon.  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  lately  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  MEREDITH  :  Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  resolutions  which 
I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  resolutions  were  read,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  business  of  the  House  be  now  suspended,  that  opportu- 
nity may  be  given  for  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Hon.  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR, 
lately  a  United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  particular  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  and  in  recognition  of  his  eminent  abilities  as  a  distinguished 
public  servant,  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  conclusion  of  these 
memorial  services,  adjourn. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk' communicate  these  resolutions  to  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  be  instructed  to  send  a  copy  of  these  resolutions 
to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Mr,  COMPTON  took  the  chair  as  Speaker  pro  tempore. 

61 


62         Address  of  Mr.  Meredith,  of  Virginia,  on  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MEREDITH,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  This  is  to  me  a  most  solemn  and  serious  occa- 
sion. According  to  the  custom  of  this  House,  we  are  now 
permitted  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  deceased  friend. 

My  own  recent  protracted  illness  has  prevented  the  prepa- 
ration of  such  an  address  as  would  be  suitable  to  the  occasion 
or  worthy  of  the  memory  of  JOHN  S.  B ARBOUR.  His  life  and 
character  were  such  as  to  need  no  eulogy  at  my  hands.  My 
greatest  pride  is  that  I  could  call  him  my  friend. 

The  only  standard  by  which  he  could  be  measured  was  fixed 
by  the  Almighty  himself.  He  was  an  honest  man — the  noblest 
work  of  God.  Quiet  and  unostentatious,  he  believed  more  in 
work  than  in  words.  And  his  life  proved  the  success  of  his 
untiring  and  unceasing  efforts  in  behalf  of  his  State,  his  coun- 
try, and  his  party. 

He  was  the  worthy  descendant  of  a  race  of  men  who  had 
helped  to  make  the  political  history  of  this  country,  and  the 
best  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  developing  the  material 
interests  of  his  native  State. 

Born  in  1820  in  the  historic  county  of  Culpeper — a  county 
which  he  represented  for  four  terms  in  the  legislature  of 
Virginia — and  where  he  began  the  practice  of  his  chosen 
profession,  he  had  reached  the  ripe  age  of  72  years,  when 
he  was  suddenly  called  from  his  earthly  labors. 

Political  honors  he  did  not  seek;  they  were  thrust  upon  him. 
In  all  the  relations  of  life  he  was  the  true  and  courteous  gentle- 
man. Faithful  to  every  trust,  whether  as  a  railroad  president, 
Kepresentative,  or  Senator,  he  won  the  esteem  and  respect  of 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

Placed  by  the  force  of  his  personal  character  and  sound 
judgment  in  a  position  to  have  made  himself  wealthy  by  the 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  63 

use  of  knowledge  obtained  as  president  for  years  of  one  of  the 
most  important  railroads  of  his  State,  he  positively  refused  to 
advance  his  own  interests  or  to  take  advantage  of  information 
obtained  by  his  official  position. 

He  was  always  true  to  his  friends  and  to  his  State.  In  those 
dark  days  of  Virginia's  political  history,  when  the  banner  of 
his  party  had  been  trailed  in  the  dust,  and  when  in  the  agony 
of  her  soul  his  mother  State  called  for  some  one  of  her  sons  to 
lead  her  out  of  the  wilderness  of  misery  and  degradation,  he 
proved  a  veritable  Moses,  and  successfully  led  his  party  to  a 
complete  victory. 

Elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  his  sound  judg- 
ment, his  courteous  manners  and  clear  comprehension  enabled 
him  to  take  rank  with  the  foremost  men  of  that  august  body 
and  made  him  the  natural  and  successful  champion  of  those 
principles  to  which  he  had  ever  adhered. 

He  was  a  believer  in  the  teachings  of  Jefferson  and  in  the 
policy  of  Jackson,  and  had  no  part  or  lot  in  modern  shams  or 
subterfuges,  but  made  honesty,  integrity,  and  sincerity  his 
rule  of  action. 

In  all  the  catalogue,  of  Virginia's  illustrious  sons,  no  purer 
man  ever  served  her  people.  ~No  man's  death  was  more  keenly 
felt,  and  no  man's  memory  will  be  more  reverently  cherished. 

I  shall  submit,  Mr.  Speaker,  as  a  part  of  my  remarks  an 
article  which  appeared  in  the  Richmond  Dispatch  from  the  pen 
of  Dr.  W.  W.  Scott,  a  cultivated  gentleman  and  devoted  Mend 
of  Mr.  BARBOUR. 

JOHN   STRODE   BARBOUR. 
[For  the  Dispatch.] 

The  press  and  many  prominent  people  in  and  out  of  Virginia  have  borne 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  life  and  public  services  of  the  late  JOHN  S.  BAR- 
BOUR, United  States  Senator  from  Virginia. 

These  notices,  as  was  proper,  related  mainly  to  the  public  career,  which 
has  been  known  and  read  of  all  men  with  profound  admiration.  Mine  the 


64          Address  of  Mr.  Meredith,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

sadder  task  to  portray  his  character  and  personality  as  he  was  known  to 
his  friends.  No  man  had  more  friends  than  he,  and  it  is  one  pledge  of  his 
worth  that,  almost  without  exception,  once  to  be  his  friend  was  to  be  his 
friend  always. 

His  political  career  began  almost  with  his  manhood,  and  his  first  triumph 
was  to  wrest  victory  from  the  Whigs  in  one  of  their  strongholds,  and 
under  the  leadership  of  so  beloved  and  respected  a  champion  as  the  late 
Col.  Daniel  F.  Slaughter,  of  Culpeper.  But  such  were  the  amenities  of 
politics  in  those  days  that  defeat  left  no  bitterness  behind. 

Each  party  strove  only  for  the  welfare  of  the  Commonwealth.  Mr.  BAR- 
BOUR  and  Col.  Slaughter  lived  out  the  allotted  period  of  man's  existence, 
cherishing  each  other  with  mutual  esteem  and  affection.  What,  in  these 
days  of  gigantic  corporations,  are  the  relations  between  a  railroad  presi- 
dent and  its  humbler  employes,  as  its  brakemen  and  track  hands?  True, 
a  cat  may  still  look  at  a  king.  In  all  his  long  railroad  career — almost,  if 
not  quite  forty  years  in  duration — the  company's  president  was  also  the 
employe's  patron  and  friend.  He  expected  them  to  perform  their  duties, 
and  he  kept  faifh  with  the  humblest  as  with  the  highest  that  in  the  words 
of  Magna  Charta  he  should  "not  be  put  upon  nor  wronged."  And  so  he 
came  to  be  called  affectionately  by  the  employes  their  "court  of  appeals," 
where  every  one  could  have  free  audience  and  whence  no  man  went  away 
till  right  had  prevailed. 

Not  while  he  was,  but  after  he  had  ceased  to  be  president,  they  presented 
him  with  a  splendid  token  of  their  gratitude  and  affection. 

His  recent  services  to  the  party  are  familiar  to  us  all.  How  in  1883, 
when  the  Commonwealth  and  her  best  traditions  were  in  peril  and  the 
Philistines  were  actually  upon  us,  at  the  earnest  behest  of  hi's  fellow- 
citizens  he  took  charge  of  the  forlorn  hope  and  "out  of  the  nettle  danger 
plucked  the  flower  safety."  Virginia  became  tumultuous  then  with  the 
applause  his  name  everywhere  evoked — in  the  cities  as  in  the  remotest 
hamlets— and  all  the  people  felt  safe  while  they  knew  that  JOHN  S.  BAR- 
BOUR  was  on  guard.  Alas !  the  sentinel  is  oft'  post  now,  and  though  the 
"long  roll"  is  sounding  for  the  Democratic  hosts  to  assemble,  "no  sound 
can  awake  him  to  glory  again ! " 

It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  BARBOUR  made  no  pretentious  to  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  an  orator  on  the  hustings.  Gifted  he  was  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  with  a  persuasive  tongue  in  quiet  and  private  discourse.  He  did 
not  see  things  by  halves,  but  his  mind  was  broad  and  comprehensive,  his 
discernment  and  discrimination  acute,  his  reasoning  co<»-eiit  and  conclu- 
sive. But  comprehensive  and  "many-sided"  as  was  his  mind  his  heart 
was  "the  immediate  jewel  of  his  soul!" 

"Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels  and  have  not  char- 
ity, I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal."  Thus  is  it  writ- 
ten in  the  Good  Book,  and  thus  do  all  men  believe.  I  speak  that  I  do  know 
when  I  say  that  he  abounded  in  charity — in  quiet,  unobtrusive,  unosten- 
tatious charity,  not  such  as  humiliated  as  much  as  it  relieved.  Old  friends 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  65 

of  liis  who  had  fallen  upon  evil  days  received  many  a  bounty  at  his  hands 
nor  ever  knew  whence  it  came ;  nor  was  a  proper  appeal  for  help  ever 
made  to  him  in  vain.  He  loved  the  good  old  Commonwealth  and  all  of 
'her  proud  traditions,  and  deplored  with  genuine  solicitude  the  straits 
of  fortune  into  which  so  many  of  her  worthy  people  had  fallen.  And  he 
exhausted  invention  in  an  earnest  effort  to  build  up  her  waste  places  and 
restore  her  people  to  prosperity  and  happiness. 

His  home  in  Washington  was  as  if  some  old-time  Virginia  mansion  had 
been  transferred  across. the  Potomac.  It  was  the  abode  of  genuine, 
unaffected,  and  refined  hospitality.  Welcome  greeted  you  at  the  threshold 
and  closed  the  door  behind  you,  and  your  host,  growing  reminiscent  of 
the  days  and  men  he  had  loved,  would  so  beguile  the  time  as  to  make  his 
guests  loath  to  depart.  He  knew  the  art  "deaipere  in  loco,"  and  enlivened 
his  talk  with  apt  anecdote  and  incident ;  but,  barring  the  emphasis  of 
occasional  expletive,  his  conversation  was  as  refined  and  chaste  as  his 
manners  were  simple  and  pure. 

He  was  a  man  of  splendid  presence  and  person,  so  fine  looking,  indeed, 
as  to  arrest  attention  in  any  company ;  his  associates  were  the  leading 
men  of  his  State  and  nation ;  he  was  blessed  with  an  ample  competence, 
and  his  position  for  years  had  been  one  to  attract  adulation.  Yet  he 
remained  a  straightforward,  natural-mannered,  noble-hearted  Virginian 
that  loved  his  friends  of  high  and  low  estate,  and  was  true  to  all  his  obli- 
gations as  man  and  citizen.  His  example  was  one  of  virtue  and  lofty 
manhood,  and  the  annals  of  Virginia  in  our  time  will  recite  no  name  of 
greater  civic  luster. 

Since  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1886  his  family  had  consisted  of  her  sister, 
Miss  Ellen  Daingerfield,  and  his  nephew,  Mr.  Richard  Thompson.  On  the 
fateful  night  that  was  Ms  last  Mr.  Thompson  was  absent,  and  Capt.  Ham 
Shepperd,  of  Fauquier,  was  a  guest  at  the  house.  About  half  past  5  in 
the  morning  of  Saturday,  May  14,  Mr.  BAKBOUR  knocked  at  Miss  Dain- 
gerfield's  room  and  asked  that  a  doctor  be  summoned. 

She  hurriedly  threw  on  a  wrapper  and  went  to  his  bedside,  but  there  came 
no  response  to  her  anxious  inquiry  after  his  health.  He  who  had  been  a 
brother  to  her  in  affection  for  all  these  years  would  not  give  the  poor  token 
of  a  word  to  this  Sister  of  Charity  in  everything  but  name.  Capt.  Shepperd 
came  breathless  from  his  room,  close  by,  and  Ada,  a  faithful  servant  of  the 
family.  He  placed  his  hand  over  his  heart,  but  it  was  still.  The  end  had 
come  even  before  Miss  Daingerfield  had  reached  his  side. 

From  the  sounding  sea  to  the  further  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies  Virginians 
came  to  his  funeral  to  testify  their  appreciation  of  the  man.  He  was  buried 
by  the  side  of  his  wife  at  her  ancestral  home, ' f  Poplar  Hill,"  in  Prince  George 
County,  Maryland,  in  accordance  with  his  wishes  made  known  in  his 
lifetime.  There  I  leave  him  to  his  repose,  endeavoring  to  merge  personal 
bereavement  in  the  public  calamity.  It  will  ever  remain  as  a  decoration 
to  me  to  have  enjoyed  his  friendship  and  confidence. 

For  the  last  time,  Salve  et  vale!     Hail  and  farewell! 

W.  W.  SCOTT. 
S.  Mis.  64 5 


66         Address  of  Mr.  CP  Ferrall,  of  Virginia,  on  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  OTERRALL,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  can  not  refrain  from  adding  my  tribute, 
however  feeble  it  may  be,  to  the  many  which  have  been  paid 
to  the  life  and  character  of  Senator  JOHN  S.  BARBOTJR,  whose 
sudden  death  startled  us  in  the  early  morn  of  the  14th  day  of 
May  last. 

Less  than  forty-eight  hours  before  death's  messenger  came 
summoning  him  from  this  world,  the  land  of  the  dying,  to  the 
next,  the  land  of  the  living,  I  had  conversed  with  him  upon 
important  questions,  and  to  mortal  vision  he  was  in  the  vigor 
of  health.  His  voice  was  strong,  his  eye  was  bright,  his  cheek 
was  ruddy,  his  hand  was  warm,  and  his  intellect  glowed  with 
its  wonted  luster.  Foreign  indeed  was  the  thought  that  I  was 
listening  for  the  last  time  to  his  words  of  wisdom  which  had 
so  often  guided  me  to  my  conclusions,  and  looking  into  a  face 
which  had  never  failed  to  impress  me  with  the  nobility  of  his 
soul  and  the  grandeur  of  his  character.  * 

I  knew,  of  course,  that  the  frosted  hair  upon  his  honored 
head  told  the  story  of  the  flight  of  more  than  three-score  years 
and  ten,  but  his  buoyant  spirits  and  joyous  disposition  made 
me  forgetful,  and  I  felt  that  he  was  more  of  a  compeer  of  mine 
than  one  so  far  beyond  me  in  years. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  and  mingle 
with  very  many  of  the  men  who  in  the  last  two  decades  or  little 
more  have  brightened  the  pages  of  our  country's  history, 
imprinted  themselves  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people, 
set  examples  worthy  of  emulation,  and  carved  their  names  in 
the  niches  of  enduring  fame. 

Some  have  been  orators  who  captivated  the  affections  and 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  67 

swayed  the  passions  of  the  people j  some  have  been  logicians 
leading  us  step  by  step  down  into  the  well  where  truth  is  found, 
and  then  raising  us  to  the  surface  full- armed  to  meet  the 
sophistries  and  heresies  with  which  the  world  abounds  5  some 
have  dazzled  with  their  genius  in  the  domain  of  literature  or 
the  arts  and  sciences;  some  have  shone  with  meteoric  brilliancy 
in  the  walks  of  humanity  and  the  broad  field  of  a  common 
brotherhood,  extending  their  sympathies  in  an  ever- widen  ing 
circle;  some  have  risen  to  heights  of  glory  on  land  and  sea 
and  drawn  forth  peans  and  praises  for  their  courage  and  skill, 
devotion  and  patriotism  in  the  dread  arena  of  war,  and  some, 
while  not  orators,  logicians,  men  of  letters  or  science,  philan- 
thropists or  warriors,  have  combined  within  themselves  quali- 
ties of  mind  and  lieart  which  made  society  transcendently 
better  because  they  were  members  of  it,  the  Eepublic  far  bet- 
ter because  they  were  citizens  of  it,  and  the  world  much  better 
because  they  lived  in  it,  and  in  this  class  stood  JOHN  S.  BAR- 
BOUR, high  in  rank,  the  equal  of  the  loftiest,  the  peer  of  the 
noblest. 

As  you  have  been  told,  Senator  BARBOUR  sprung  from  true 
Virginia  stock.  His  early  opportunities  were  favorable  and 
he  acquired  a  liberal  education  and  was  prepared  for  the  bar, 
but  he  soon  abandoned  it,  and  after  serving  when  quite  a 
young  man  several  terms  in  the  house  of  delegates  of  his  State 
he  entered  upon  a  business  career  which  marked  him  early  in 
life  as  one  of  the  most  astute  railroad  managers  which  this 
country  through  a  long  series  of  years  produced. 

Taking  charge  of  a  railroad  in  its  infancy  as  president  he 
continued  in  that  position  for  a  full  generation  of  men,  and 
when  he  retired  the  infant  road  of  88  miles  had  grown  to  500 
in  length  and  is  to-day  part  of  one  of  the  grand  trunk  lines 
of  the  South  over  which  the  increasing  commerce  of  the  States 
through  which  it  passes  is  carried,  and  the  fruits  of  the  sec- 


68         Address  of  Mr.  O*  Ferrall,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

tions  it  traverses  are  conveyed  with  lightning  speed  to  the 
great  trade  marts  and  commercial  centers. 

No  man  could  have  filled  so  long  and  so  well  the  important 
position  of  railroad  president  unless  he  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree  what  is  usually  termed  common  sense,  which  lias 
been  defined  as  "the  knack  of  seeing  things  as  they  are  and 
.doing  things  as  they  ought  to  be  done."  And,  Mr.  Speaker, 
this  was  the  supreme  characteristic  of  Senator  BARBOUR  ;  this 
was  the  touchstone  of  his  usefulness.  Common  sense  directed 
him,  common  sense  guided  him,  and  thus  directed  and  guided 
his  judgment  was  almost  infallible,  whether  engaged  in  con- 
ducting the  affairs  of  a  railroad,  managing  a  political  campaign, 
or  legislating  for  the  State  or  nation.  He  possessed  a  quality 
which,  while  it  had  not  "the  brilliancy  of  the  sun,  it  had  the 
fixity  of  the  stars." 

His  strong  common  sense  gave  him  wonderful  tact  and  he 
surmounted  difficulties  and  removed  obstacles  in  his  course 
with  ease,  before  which  most  men  would  have  stood  appalled. 
In  lact,  sir,  he  was  in  these  particulars  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary men,  in  my  opinion,  of  this  age.  Whether  in  storm 
or  in  calm,  his  judgment  could  be  relied  upon.  Always  self- 
possessed,  never  unduly  excited  or  elated,  never  discouraged 
or  cast  down,  his  mind  acted  with  the  precision  of  the  most 
delicate  piece  of  mechanism,  and  his  conclusions  were  reached 
with  the  quickness  of  a  feathered  arrow  from  an  archer's  bow. 

He  had  the  faculty,  too,  of  inspiring  courage  and  confidence 
in  all  around  him,  and  imbuing  them  with  his  indomitable 
will.  He  was  a  teacher,  too,  and  a  trainer,  and  to-day  a 
young  kinsman  who  grew  up  under  his  direction  while  he  was 
connected  with  the  railroad  to  which  I  have  referred,  stands 
in  the  front  rank  in  railroad  circles  and  is  destined,  if  life  is 
spared  him,  to  rise  still  higher.  His  early  lessons  were 
learned  in  the  office  of  this  remarkable  man  whose  death  we 
mourn. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  69 

Let  it  not  be  imagined,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  this  strong  man 
in  council  and  in  action,  this  Hercules  in  strength  of  mind 
and  attributes  of  intellect,  was  harsh  in  manner  or  stern,  for 
he  was  just  the  reverse.  He  was  ever  firm,  but  at  the  same 
time  all  gentleness  and  kindness.  His  presence  was  a  very 
benediction.  He  was  tolerant,  respected  the  opinions  of 
others,  and  never  sought,  except  in  the  most  gentle  way,  to 
impress  his  views  upon  those  with  whom  he  differed.  He 
seemed  to  feel  with  Shakespeare — 

What  tliou  wilt  thou  slialt  rather  enforce  with  thy  smile  than  hew  to  it 
with  thy  sword. 

While  he  always  took  a  deep  interest  in  politics  in  his  State 
and  exerted  great  influence,  it  was  not  until  1883  that  he 
became  prominent  as  a  party  leader.  When  the  Demo- 
cratic State  convention  met  at  Lynchburg,  in  the  summer  of 
1883,  it  was  confronted  with  the  fact  that  the  movement  known 
as  the  Readjuster  movement,  and  which  was  inaugurated  for 
the  purpose  of  readjusting  the  State  debt,  had  been 
diverted  from  its  original  purpose  and  by  shrewd  management 
directed  into  channels  which  placed  the  Democratic  party  in 
imminent  danger  of  defeat  in  the  approaching  legislative 
election.  A  Democratic  leader  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
term  was  imperatively  demanded.  The  broken  column  of 
Democracy  had  to  be  reunited,  differences  reconciled,  heart 
burnings  cooled,  the  demoralized  ranks  reformed  and  courage 
given  to  them,  else  defeat  would  be  written  upon  the  party's 
oriflamme  in  the  coming  November. 

From  every  throat  there  came  the  cry,  "A  leader !  A  leader ! 
Who  is  he?  Where  is  he!"  Suddenly,  like  a  flash,  as  if  by 
intuition,  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR'S  name  was  in  every  mind  and 
upon  every  tongue,  and  that  convention,  composed  of  the  rep- 
resentative Democrats  of  the  State,  with  one  voice  selected 
him.  He  appeared  before  the  convention,  and  with  that 


70         Address  of  Mr.  (7  Ferrall,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

modesty  that  ever  characterized  him,  expressed  his  doubts 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  convention  in  selecting  him,  but 
impelled  by  his  sense  of  duty  he  accepted  the  high  trust,  and 
instantly  victory  was  felt  in  the  very  air  *and  courage  leaped 
to  every  breast. 

He  commenced  his  organization  j  he  contrived  and  invented $ 
he  made  preparations  everywhere ;  he  was  watchful  night  and 
day,  and  left  nothing  to  chance.  He  smoothed  rough  places 
and  bridged  difficulties,  and  gathered  in  all  along  the  way  the 
wavering  and  disheartened,  and  drew  back  into  the  ranks  thou- 
sands who  in  thoughtless  moments  had  wandered  into  the 
enemy's  camp.  ^November  came,  and  with  it  a  sweeping  victory, 
and  from  that  hour  the  name  of  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  rang 
throughout  Virginia's  borders. 

Honored  by  the  people  of  the  Eighth  Congressional  district 
of  Virginia,  which  embraces  the  county  of  his  birth,  with  a 
seat  in  this  House  for  three  consecutive  terms  and  then  trans- 
ferred by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  general  assembly  to  the 
Senate,  his  services  in  both  branches  were  marked  by  a  display 
of  the  same  sound  judgment  which  had  drawn  the  attention  of 
all  the  people  to  him  for  so  many  years,  and  that  fidelity  to 
duty  which  rose  with  him  in  the  morning  and  went  to  bed  with 
him  at  night  all  the  days  of  his  life.  In  the  language  of  Bul- 
wer: 

Like  a  brave  man,  he  wanted  no  charms  to  encourage  him  to  duty ;  like  a 
good  man,  he  scorned  all  warnings  that  would  deter  him  from  doing  it. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  while  I  would  like  to  dwell  longer  upon  the 
life  and  character  of  this  distinguished  and  beloved  son  of  the 
Old  Commonwealth,  for  my  niind  delights  to  linger  amid  the 
thoughts  of  his  many  virtues  and  noble  and  stainless  pilgrim- 
age on  earth,  time  will  not  permit. 

Death,  "  the  golden  key  that  opens  the  palace  of  eternity," 
came  to  him  when  the  early  morning  air  was  redolent  with  the 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  B  arbour.  71 

perfume  of  flowers  and  musical  with  the  lays  of  the  birds  of 
springtime,  and  when  nature  seemed  to  be  inviting  all  to  live 
and  be  joyous,  none  to  die.  But  how  true: 

Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  O  Death ! 

Messages  on  electric  wings  flew  throughout  the  domains  of 
Virginia,  and  the  joy  and  gladness  of  that  May  morn  were  turned 
to  sorrow  and  sadness,  and  hearts  were  made  to  bleed,  and  eyes 
were  made  to  moisten. 

In  the  tomb,  in  a  sequestered  spot,  is  incased  his  mortal  body ; 
in  a  land  where  everlasting  suns  shed  everlasting  brightness, 
we  trust,  is  his  immortal  soul. 

He  reposes  not  in  the  soil  of  the  State  he  loved  and  served 
so  well,  but  his  memory  will  be  kept  burning  like  holy  incense 
upon  Virginia's  altars  by  her  daughters,  as  if  by  vestal  virgins ; 
her  sons  will  cherish  it,  and  all  her  people  honor  it,  while  his 
name  will  live  as  long  as  her  historians  continue  to  portray  the 
lives  and  characters  of  her  worthies,  and  record  the  deeds  of 
'those  who,  born  under  her  skies,  were  loyal  to  her  all  their  days, 
and,  dying,  left  behind  them  examples  of  fidelity  to  principle 
and  devotion  to  duty,  written  not  in  sand,  but  engraved  on 
solid  rock. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  WISE,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  During  this  Congress  the  air  has  been  full  of 
farewells  to  the  dying  and  mournings  for  the  dead.  Virginia 
had  not  recovered  from  the  shock  caused  by  the  death  of  a 
lamented  Representative  in  this  House  when  she  was  sum- 
moned to  stand  "in  all  the  silent  manliness  of  grief"  around 
the  bier  of  a  Senator  whom  she  honored  for  his  worth  and 
loved  for  his  virtues. 

Mr.  B ARBOUR  departed  suddenly  in  this  city  on  the  14th  day 
of  May,  1892.  No  note  of  warning  had  been  given  to  prepare 


72  Address  of  Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

his  people  for  the  sorrowful  event.  Its  announcement  fell  upon 
them  with  the  startling  effect  of  a  fire  bell  at  night  and  their 
hearts  were  filled  with  profound  grief.  There  had  been  no  long 
and  lingering  sickness,  no  wasting  and  consuming  disease. 

On  the  day  previous  to  his  death  he  occupied  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  Chamber,  and  was  engaged  as  usual  in  the  discharge 
of  his  accustomed  duties.  Although  well  advanced  in  years, 
their  weight  seemed  to  rest  lightly  upon  him.  He  exhibited 
then  no  outward  signs  of  weakness  and  decay,  but  on  the 
contrary  an  unwonted  flow  of  spirits,  and  appeared  to  be  in 
possession  of  sufficient  strength  and  vitality  to  endure  for 
many  years  the  severe  labors  and  responsibilities  of  his  high 
position. 

After  the  adjournment  he  retired  to  his  home,  and  there,  in 
familiar  intercourse  with  a  valued  and  esteemed  friend,  dis- 
cussed .current  events  in  Virginia.  In  the  easy  flow  of  conver- 
sation they  took  no  note  of  the  passage  of  the  silent  hours, 
marked  by  "  the  slow  clock  in  stately  measured  chime."  When 
the  friends,  wearied  with  the  toils  of  the  long  day,  parted,  and 
the  "  good  night  "  was  spoken,  they  did  not  dream  that  "the 
inaudible  and  noiseless  foot  of  time "  was  near  to  the  hour 
when  one  of  them  would  be  summoned  to  pass  over  the  river, 
to  rest  forever  in  peace  beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees  on  the 
other  side.  Mr.  B ARBOUR  awoke  with  the  dawn  of  day.  He 
was  troubled  only  for  a  moment  with  a  feeling  of  oppression, 
and  then  "  God's  finger  touched  him,  and  he  slept." 

Death  comes  to  all.     His  cold  and  sapless  hand 
Waves  o'er  the  Avorld  and  beckons  us  away. 
Who  shall  resist  the  summons? 

He  was  descended  from  a  family  which  has  given  to  Virginia 
and  the  nation  many  gifted  and  distinguished  men.  James 
Barbour,  a  near  kinsman,  sat  in  the  house  of  delegates  of  Vir- 
ginia from  1796  to  1812,  when  he  was  elected  governor.  In 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  73 

1815  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  State  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  served  in  that  body  for  a  number  of  years  as 
chairman  of  the  important  Committee  on  Foreign  Eelations. 
He  was  Secretary  of  War  during  a  portion  of  the  administra- 
tion of  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  was  then  sent  as  minister  to 
England. 

In  1839  he  presided  over  the  Whig  convention  at  Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania,  which  nominated  for  the  Presidency  Gen.  Wil- 
liam H.  Harrison.  Philip  Pendletoii  Barbour,  another  near 
kinsman,  served  many  terms  in  this  House,  and  presided  as 
Speaker  over  its  deliberations.  He  closed  a  brilliant  career  as 
an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
The  father  of  Senator  BARBOUR  was  a  man  of  mark  and 
distinction,  and  held  many  posts  of  honor.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  this  House  from  1823  to  1833,  and  was  regarded  as  a 
strong  debater  and  graceful  orator. 

Senator  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  was  born  in  the  county  of  Cul- 
peper,  Virginia,  December  29,  1820.  After  preparation  in  the 
best  schools  of  that  day,  he  was  sent  to  pursue  a  course  of  study 
in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  to  be  trained  for  the  work  of 
his  life.  He  was  graduated  a  lawyer  in  1842,  and  commenced 
at  once  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native  county. 
In  1852  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Orange  and  Alexan- 
dria Eailroad  Company  (now  the  Virginia  Midland  Kailway 
Company),  and  continued  in  that  position  upward  of  thirty 
years.  He  served  in  this  House  during  the  Forty-seventh, 
Forty-eighth,  and  Forty-ninth  Congresses,  and  on  the  20th  of 
December,  1887,  was  elected  to  represent  Virginia  in  the 
United  States  Senate  for  the  term  of  six  years  from  the  4th  of 
March,  1889. 

In  every  position  he  was  faithful  and  efficient  in  the  dis- 
charge of  all  duties.  While  he  was  not  distinguished  for  his 
skill  as  a  public  speaker,  and  did  not  possess  the  gifts  to  move 


74  Address  of  Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

by  the  power  of  oratory,  or  to  please  by  the  graces  of  rhetoric, 
he  rose  to  the  position  of  political  leader  in  his  State,  and 
was  crowned  with  the  highest  honors  which  his  people  could 
bestow. 

No  man  within  the  borders  of  Virginia  exercised  greater 
influence  in  shaping  public  opinion  or  in  directing  the  move- 
ments of  the  great  party  with  which  he  was  associated. 
Although  surrounded  by  men  who  possessed  more  magnetic 
force  and  were  more  showy,  he  left  them  far  behind  in  the  race 
for  the  prizes  and  honors  of  life  and  for  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  The  people  regarded  him  as  a  safe  counselor,  and 
believed  him  to  be  an  incorruptible  patriot. 

He  acquired  his  power  and  influence  over  men  by  the  dis- 
play at  all  times  of  such  sterling  qualities  and  virtues  as 
gained  for  him  their  respect  and  admiration  In  all  his  actions 
and  utterances  he  exhibited  moderation  as  regulated  by  wis- 
dom. Mr.  BARBOUR  never  jumped  to  conclusions,  but  his 
opinions  upon  all  subjects  were  formed  after  careful  and  labori- 
ous investigation. 

The  processes  of  his  mind  were  usually  accurate,  and  always 
directed  toward  the  ascertainment  of  truth  and  justice.  He 
did  not  permit  his  mental  vision  to  be  clouded  by  prejudice, 
nor  his  generous  disposition  to  be  dominated  by  selfishness. 
He  was  indebted  largely  to  his  good  judgment  for  his  success 
in  life;  it  was  "  a  parcel  of  his  fortunes."  He  was  gentle  and 
kind  toward  all,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  exhibited  severity  in  his 
criticisms  of  the  opinions  and  belief  of  others.  Cicero  defined 
justice  to  consist  in  " doing  no  injury;  decency  in  giving  no 
offense." 

Having  enjoyed  with  him  for  many  years  the  intimacy  of 
established  friendship,  I  can  truthfully  say  that  I  never  saw 
him  willfully  inflict  injury  or  intentionally  give  offense.  His 
good  breeding  was  always  manifested  in  gracefully  remember- 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  75 

ing  the  rights  of  others,  rather  than  in  urgently  insisting  on 
his  own.  In  him  the  elements  were  so  mixed  as  to  produce 
an  even,  well-balanced,  and  upright  man. 

In  his  conduct  as  a  Kepresentative  he  was  not  ruled  by  fac- 
tion and  interest,  but  was  filled  by  a  passion  for  the  glory  of 
his  whole  country.  He  loved  Virginia  with  filial  devotion, 
and  his  attention  w*as  chiefly  given  to  the  advancement  of  her 
interests j  but  he  always  preserved  a  due  regard  for  the  general 
welfare.  Mr.  BARBOUR  gave  close  and  careful  attention  to  all 
his  duties,  and  was  a  painstaking,  useful,  and  conscientious 
Kepreseutative. 

He  was  as  conspicuous  for  his  virtues  as  he  was  distin- 
guished for  his  public  services.  He  was  tender  and  loving  as 
a  husband,  warm  and  devoted  as  a  brother,  true  and  sincere 
as  a  friend. 

Of  the  high  blood  which  breeds  the  best  men  in  Eepublics, 
as  well  as  under  other  forms  j  of  a  personal  worth  that  did  no 
dishonor  to  his  derivation,  and  that  was  always  climbing  the 
heights  of  well-doing ;  he  died  as  he  livsd,  a  Christian  gentle- 
man; aye,  and  of  that  best  type  of  Christian  gentility,  which 
postpones  the  more  blatant  professions  of  religious  sentiment 
to  the  quiet  rendering  of  one's  duty  to  neighbor,  to  country, 
and  to  God,  without  fear  as  to  His  infinite  mercies. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MILLIKEN,  OF  MAINE. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  was  but  a  short  hour  ago  that  I  was 
informed  that  the  House  would  set  apart  a  portion  of  this  day 
as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  late  Senator  BARBOUR  of  Virginia, 
but  I  can  not  forego  the  opportunity,  unprepared  as  I  am,  to 
express  in  brief  but  sincere  and  earnest  terms  my  high  appre- 
ciation of  his  character,  and  to  pay  my  tribute  of  respect  and 
affection  to  his  memory. 


76  Address  of  Mr.  Milliken,  of  Maine,  on  the 

I  believe,  sir,  it  is  good  for  us  to  commemorate  in  this  public 
manner  the  virtues  of  those  who  have  deserved  well  of  their 
country  and  of  mankind.  It  is  good  for  all  of  us.  It  raises  us 
above  the  common  bickerings  and  strifes  of  everyday  life, 
exalts  the  soul,  and  purifies  the  feelings.  And,  sir,  this  custom 
is  nothing  new.  It  has  existed  among  the  greatest  and  most 
civilized  nations  in  all  past  ages.  We  all  know  that  Greece 
reared  noble  statues  and  monuments  to  commemorate  the 
achievements  and  the  fame"  of  those  who  had  earned  the  grati- 
tude of  their  country. 

Borne  followed  her  example.  She  likewise  raised  her  monu- 
ments and  erected  her  statues  to  honor  the  memory  of  her  dis- 
tinguished sons.  They  were  to  be  found  in  her  public  baths, 
in  the  forum,  in  her  market  places,  and  at  all  points  where  the 
people  were  accustomed  to  gather.  She  was  not  satisfied  that 
the  virtues  of  her  great  and  good  should  simply  be  written 
down  in  books  of  history  and  laid  away  on  the  shelves  of  the 
library  of  the  student  to  be  occasionally  referred  to,  but  she 
would  have  them  commemorated  in  statues  and  monuments  in 
her  public  places,  that  they  might  be  ever  before  the  eyes  of 
the  people,  teaching  them,  and  especially  the  youth  of  the 
country,  to  emulate  the  virtues  and  the  achievements  of  the 
great  dead  who  had  deserved  well  of  their  countrymen  by  their 
heroic  deeds  and  their  wise  and  eloquent  words. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  to  know  Senator  BARBOUR  as  a 
member  of  this  House  for  several  sessions.  I  knew  him  as  a 
quiet  but  at  the  same  time  as  a  wise,  diligent,  very  efficient, 
and  thoroughly  true  member  of  the  House.  But  I  had  an 
opportunity  to  know  him  still  more  closely.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  once  to  cross  the  continent  with  him,  and  to  recross  it 
to  this  city ;  and  the  relations  which  were  established  between 
us  were  such  as  I  will  ever  look  back  to  until  the  last  day  of  my 
life  as  among  the  greenest  and  warmest  places  in  my  whole 
career. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  B  arbour.  77 

He  was  a  kind,  genial  gentleman.  He  was  a  gentleman  in 
the  truest  sense  of  the  term.  He  did  not  obtrnde  his  opinions, 
his  theories,  or  his  notions  offensively  upon  any  one.  On  the 
contrary,  he  seemed  to  be  always  thoughtful  of  other  people's 
comfort  as  well  as  regardful  of  other  people's  opinions  and 
feelings. 

I  readily  discovered  that  he  was  a  wise  and  what  in  common 
parlance  we  would  call  a  "  broad-gauge  "  man.  He  was  not 
one  of  those  who  believe  that  all  virtues  exist  in  their  own 
neighborhood,  that  all  wisdom  is  contained  in  their  own 
county,  or  that  all  patriotism  is  circumscribed  by  the  lines  of 
their  own  State.  On  the  contrary,  his  vision  was  as  broad  as 
his  country,  and  the  goodness  of  his  heart  compassed  all  man- 
kind. 

It  can  truthfully  be  said  that  when  his  life  went  out  a  good 
man  died,  leaving  to  us  as  our  inheritance  the  fragrance  of  a 
sweet  memory. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  TUCKER,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Amidst  the  wealth  of  personal  tributes  paid 
to  our  deceased  friend,  I  have  felt  it  not  inappropriate  in  me 
to  add  a  contribution  as  to  the  character  of  Senator  B  ARBOUR 
from  the  pen  of  one  who  was  his  companion  in  youth,  the 
friend  of  his  manhood,  and  his  loyal  supporter  in  his  riper 
years.  At  my  request.  Mr.  John  Randolph  Tucker  has  pre- 
pared a  paper  commemorative  of  Senator  BARBOUR'S  virtues 
and  character,  which  I  will  now  read. 

At  your  request  I  undertake  to  portray  the  character  of  the  late  JOHN 
S.  BARBOUR,  Senator  from  Virginia,  whose  death  severed  the  bond  of  our 
friendship,  formed  iuo*e  than  a  half  century  ago  at  the  University  of 
Virginia;  which  Avas  never  interrupted  by  one  moment  of  uukiudness,  and 
of  which  the  memory  only  remains  fragrant  with  confidence,  esteem,  and 


78  Address  of  Mr.  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

affection.  He  sprung  from  a  family,  whose  talents  furnished  to  the  coun- 
try the  Hon.  James  Barbour,  who  filled  the  public  stations  of  gover- 
nor of  Virginia,  Senator,  Secretary  of  War,  and  minister  to  England;  P. 
P.  Barbour,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  of  John  S.  Barbour,  sr.,  the  father  of  my  friend  and 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  high  gifts  as  orator, 
statesman,  and  lawyer.  Other  members  of  the  family  have  won  distinc- 
tion in  the  general  assembly  and  in  conventions  of  the  State,  and  in  the 
field  of  literary  acquisition. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  did  not  inherit  the  peculiar  gifts  of  his  race.  His  was  a 
mind  in  which  strong  common  sense,  great  sagacity  in  the  guidance  of 
affairs,  and  a  remarkable  knowledge  of  men  were  eminently  conspicuous. 
In  early  manhood  these  qualties  were  manifested,  so  that  "the  boy  was 
father  to  the  man." 

At  the  university  he  was  not  particularly  distinguished  for  scholarship. 
His  education  was  liberal,  but  not  specially  classical  or  literary.  His 
self-discipline  was  practical  and  such  as  to  train  him  as  a  man  of  affairs. 
He  studied  law  to  proficiency,  but  not  for  professional  advancement. 

The  principles  of  law  he  mastered,  and  they  were  made  available  for 
the  career  he  marked  out  for  himself.  His  mental  processes  were  acute 
and  well  defined,  so  that  his  thought  was  always  clear  and  strong ;  but 
while  his  pen  was  fitted  to  convey  in  simple  and  unambitious  English  the 
train  of  his  reflections  and  the  results  of  his  judgment,  he  had  neither 
taste  nor  talent  for  popular  eloquence,  nor  for  expressing  in  public  speech 
the  sentiments  which  his  intellect  conceived.  Indeed,  though  self-reliant 
in  judgment,  he  had  a  modesty,  almost  bashfulness,  which  shrank  from 
the  observation  of  a  public  assembly.  His  perceptions  were  clear ;  his 
convictions  deep  and  sincere,  and  his  purpose  aggressive  by  their  avowal 
to  enforce  them  upon  the  minds  of  others. 

In  conversation  he  was  free,  self-confident,  and  cogent ;  and  through 
this  medium  and  that  of  his  pen  he  so  impressed  himself  upon  his  asso- 
ciates as  to  make  him  a  conspicuous  and  acknowledged  leader  of  men  and 
a  director  and  guide  in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  He  never  courted  popu- 
larity nor  coveted  the  honors  of  public  station.  He  was  content  to  labor 
for  what  he  thought  for  the  public  good,  through  the  influence  which  his 
opinions  were  sure  to  produce,  leaving  to  others  to  advocate  and  execute 
them. 

It  is  not  meant  that  he  had  no  desire  for  the  appreciation  of  those  for 
whom  he  labored.  No  man  felt  more  keenly  the  absence  of  this — none  more 
warmly  its  manifestation.  When  patriotic  duty  induced  the  contribution  of 
his  abilities,  his  fortune,  and  his  all  to  save  his  people  from  misrule  and 
the  upheaval  of  their  social  order,  he  did  it  with  a  liberal  and  unstinted  pur- 
pose, which  knew  no  reservation  and  mocked  at  every  obstacle.  He  loved 
Virginia  with  an  unselfish  devotion — her  social  life,  her  traditions,  her  his- 
toric glory ;  and  nothing  he  could  offer  to  save  her  from  misgovernment,  to 
vindicate  her  honor,  and  to  promote  the  good  of  her  people  did  he  hesitate 
to  lay  as  a  willing  sacrifice  on  her  altar. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  79 

This  feeling  was  the  key  to  his  public  life.  The  autonomy  of  the 
States  was  the  central  doctrine  of  his  political  creed,  and  to  secure  this 
for  Virginia  the  supreme  motive  of  his  political  action.  To  this  all  else  was 
subordinate;  and  hence  he  seemed  to  be  indifferent  to  other  policies  in 
order  to  achieve  this  prime  and  essential  object. 

He  left  the  bar  for  the  legislative  halls  of  the  Virginia  general  assembly 
in  1847,  and  for  four  years  of  great  importance  to  the  future  destiny  of  his 
native  State  he  served  her  with  fidelity,  zeal,  and  ability.  He  afterwards 
became  president  of  one  of  her  leading  lines  of  railway,  when  these  enter- 
prises were  in  their  infancy.  His  sagacious  administration  expanded  its 
original  object  into  a  great  and  now  interstate  corporate  maturity.  His 
skillful  and  steady  hand  guided  its  destiny  through  a  war,  disastrous  to  its 
interests,  but  from  which  it  emerged  into  prosperity  and  power. 

During  the  period  of  civil  strife  he  was  true  to  the  action  of  the  people  of 
Virginia,  and  did  all  that  patriotism  could  suggest  and  wisdom  could  effect 
for  the  honor  and  welfare  of  his  mother  Commonwealth. 

Some  years  ago,  when  the  fortunes  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Virginia 
had  succumbed  to  the  influence  of  a  dangerous  schism  in  its  ranks,  he  was 
invited  by  the  Lynchburg  convention  to  take  the  helm  and  steer  the  ship  of 
that  great  organization  safely  into  port.  No  one  can  ever  forget — all  will 
ever  proudly  remember — that  the  voyage  was  made  with  preeminent  suc- 
cess ;  and  the  ascendency  of  that  party  in  Virginia  ever  since  is  a  memorial 
trophy  to  the  genius,  courage,  sagacity,  and  devotion  of  its  great  leader. 

In  all  this  period  his  judgment  was  recognized  as  well  nigh  infallible. 
Such  was  his  equanimity  of  temper ;  such  the  equipoise  of  his  intellect ;  such 
the  intrepidity  of  his  nature,  that  panics  could  not  shake  his  constancy,  nor 
delusive  hopes  mislead  his  judgment.  He  did  everything  which  care/ 
patience,  and  watchfulness  required;  omitted  nothing  which  the  public 
interest  demanded  and  honor  sanctioned,  to  achieve  the  most  splendid 
success. 

Abashed  in  accepting  the  honor  of  leadership,  firm,  self-reliant,  and 
fearless  in  the  conduct  of  his  party  through  the  conflict ;  he  was  modest 
and  unassuming  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph.  The  tribute  of  gratulation 
which  the  people  offered  did  not  intoxicate  him  with  vainglorious  con- 
fidence ;  but  each  successive  battle  was  fought  with  the  same  cautious 
husbandry  of  resources,  the  same  inspiration  of  patriotism  in  the  hosts 
that  followed  him,  and  the  same  overwhelming  combinations,  which 
brought  disastrous  defeat  to  his  foes,  and  won  glorious  victory  for  the 
people  of  Virginia. 

He  would  have  been  more  or  less  than  man  if  he  had  not  been  deeply 
gratified  when  the  great  party  to  whose  fortunes  he  had  consecrated  his 
life  bestowed  upon  him  the  well-merited  honor  of  Senator  of  Virginia. 
He  acecpted  it,  as  a  tribute  of  the  grateful  appreciation  of  his  beloved 
people,  and  entered  on  its  duties  with  the  simple  and  unselfish  purpose  of 
so  serving  those  who  had  trusted  him  as  to  promote  their  welfare,  conserve 
their  free  institutions,  and  advance  the  glory  of  the  Union. 


80  Address  of  Mr.  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

Mr.  BARBOUR  was  warm,  generous,  constant,  and  deeply  sincere  in  his 
friendships.  This  was  evinced  in  acts,  very  little  in  professions.  His 
nature  was  the  seat  of  noble  and  tender  sentiments;  but  none  was  so 
modest  in  their  manifestation.  He  was  too  genuine  to  waste  these  deep 
emotions  in  expression.  Their  suppression  was  his  habit.  His  love  spoke 
only  in  active  beneficence.  His  griefs,  even  the  most  tender  and  bitter, 
shrank  within  the  sacred  cloister  of  his  heart  and  died  with  him  in 
voiceless  woe. 

Candid  with  confidential  friends  he  was  reserved  with  strangers.  To  his 
opponents  he  was  reticent,  but  without  deceit.  None  knew  or  practiced 
better  the  maxim,  "aliud  est  celare,  aliud  tacere;  neque  enim  id  est  celare  quic- 
quid  retineas."  His  warfare  was  skillful,  but  honorable. 

His  canon  of  lawful  strategy  was  by  sagacity  to  detect  the  plan  of  your 
enemy,  and  by  the  wisdom  of  silence  to  screen  your  own.  Reticence  is 
not  deceit.  He  thus  assailed  the  weak  points  of  his  foe,  and  never  exposed 
his  own. 

If,  in  the  conduct  of  political  strife,  he  sometimes  "gave  his  thoughts 
no  tongue,"  it  was  more  true  "he  gave  no  disproportioned  thought  its  act." 
If  cautious  not  to  speak  too  freely,  he  never  spoke  untruly,  nor  uttered  a 
word  to  friend  or  foe  which  might  not  be  fully  relied  on. 

Mr.  BARBOUR  was  a  patriot.  He  loved  his  whole  county  and  its  glory. 
But  to  Virginia  and  her  customs  and  habits,  to  her  people  in  their  disas- 
trous adversity,  his  heart  turned  with  a  strong  and  resistless  current  of 
devoted  affection.  In  private  conversation  these  sentiments  broke  all 
the  barriers  which  his  modest  nature  placed  jipon  the  expression  of  the 
feelings  of  his  heart. 

He  was  honest,  upright,  and  honorable  in  private  life,  and  devoted, 
tender,  and  true  in  domestic  relations. 

To  delineate  the  qualities  of  my  dead  friend  is  to  me  a  sad  pleasure.  He 
has  gone  before  and  has  met  the  dread  audit  of  the  future  state.  Within 
that  awful  "bourne  whence  no  traveler  returns"  it  is  not  ours  to  intrude. 
But  we  may  be  sure  of  this — that  in  all  the  duties  which  are  demanded  of 
the  patriot  citizen,  of  the  public  servant,  of  the  steadfast  friend,  and  of 
the  head  of  a  household,  no  man  survives  him  who  would  not  be  honored 
by  the  epitaph  "True  to  all  duty;  as  true  as  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  of 
Virginia." 

"No  further  seek  his  merits  to  disclose, 
Or  draw  his  frailties  from  their  dread  abode 
(There  they  alike  in  trembling  hope  repose), 
The  bosom  of  his  Father  and  his  God." 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  81 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  KENDALL,  OF  KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  The  orphan  Marius  in  Victor  Hugo's  master- 
piece, himself  a  child  of  the  French  .Revolution,  while  musing 
on  the  brave  days  of  old  and  its  heroes  when  there  were  still 
giants  in  the  land,  is  'said  to  have  uttered  these  words :  "  The 
men  of  the  revolution  are  so  great  that  they  already  have  the 
prestige  of  centuries  like  Cato  and  like  Phocion,  and  each  of 
them  seems  a  memoirs  antique  (antique  memory)."  So  might  a 
son  of  pioneer  Kentucky,  the  first  daughter  of  fair  old  Virginia's 
statehood,  have  muttered  in  a  muse  who  knew  the  cavalier 
Senator  whose  memory  we  pause  this  day  to  honor.  He  looked 
the  greatness  that  he  was.  The  stranger  in  Washington  who 
met  him  on  his  way  from  the  Senate  side  to  his  home  on  Capi- 
tol Hill,  when  his  tall  bent  form  had  passed,  almost  invariably 
turned  to  take  a  second  look. 

His  well  rounded  career,  to  me  who  have  studied  it  in  its 
many  phases,  is  a  star  to  which  early  obscurity  has  lent  nothing 
but  brightness.  He  never  forgot  that  he  was  a  gentleman  by 
birth,  instinct,  and  education — the  superb  scion  of  a  splendid 
stock,  modest  and  unassuming.  His  impulses  were  as  lofty  as 
his  manners  were  simple.  He  wielded  the  power  which  unusual 
capacity  veiled  with  a  modesty  approaching  that  of  diffidence, 
emblemed  by  the  violet,  can  always  command.  His  highest 
ambition  was  to  be  right  as  he  saw  the  right,  as  much  so  as 
any  Senator  I  ever  came  near.  In  cast  of  mind  direct  rather 
than  diplomatic,  courageous  rather  than  cautious;  in  style 
more  concise  than  sublime,  cogent,  not  often  eloquent,  but 
always  incisive  and  mercurial,  he  was  a  typical  Southron  and 
an  ideal  leader.  To  uncommon  parts,  dignified  simplicity, 
and  perfect  intellectual  balance,  he  added  the  inspiration  of 
S.  Mis.  64 6 


82          Address  of  Mr.  Kendall,  of  Kentucky,  on  the 

patriotism,  the  genius  of  hard  work,  the  eloquence  of  con- 
viction, and  the  logic  of  common  sense. 

He  spoke  and  acted  from  reflection  rather  than  impulse. 
Observation  and  administrative  talents  of  the  highest  order, 
early  sowed  in  his  mind  with  lavish  hand,  and  his  immense 
energies,  reaped  abundant  fruitage.  To  his  friends,  whether 
rich  or  poor,  he  was  unwaveringly  the  same,  and  the  humblest 
constituent  was  as  welcome  as  a  Senator.  His  command  over 
the  minds  of  his  fellow-men  was  the  clear  result  of  nature's 
partiality.  His  language  and  diction  had  much  of  the  vigorous 
simplicity  of  Bunyan  and  his  words  were  pictures  wreathed  in 
homely  garlands.  He  impressed  the  earnestness  of  his  con- 
victions, practiced  the  habit  of  forgiveness,  hated  no  one 
because  he  wantonly  injured  no  one,  and  sought  success  rather 
than  revenge. 

He  was  a  student,  and  yet  he  knew  men  better  than  books. 
We  are  told  that  he  loved  a  good  horse,  and  delighted  in  the 
nurture  and  improvement  of  stock.  Obeying  Solomon's  injunc- 
tion he  hated  suretyship.  Like  Solomon,  he  sought  wisdom, 
and  with  it  came  wealth.  Acute,  fearless,  insinuating,  and 
intellectually  honest,  he  was  not  suspected  of  insincerity  in 
either  his  friendships  or  opinions. 

He  combined  the  claims  of  a  plain  talker  and  thinker;  and, 
like  the  hero  in  one  of  the  beautiful  but  tragic  mythologies  of 
the  ancients,  employed  flowers  only  to  conceal  the  keen  blade 
of  logic. 

In  statecraft  he  seems  not  to  have  aspired  to  a  higher  wisdom 
than  the  aggregated  sentiment  of  the  common  people,  that 
excellent,  conservative  middle  class  who  are  at  once  the  safety, 
the  bulwark,  and  the  glory  of  the  Eepublic.  His  conception 
of  the  conscience  and  intellect  of  that  class  was  very  high, 
and  he  was  not  afraid  to  trust  them.  Very  few  public  servants 
in  a  similar  length  of  time  accomplished  more  practical  service 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  B  arbour.  83 

for  his  State  than  he.  In  the  vast  circle  of  his  prolonged  pub- 
lic service,  embracing  the  flower  of  his  matured  manhood,  it 
can  not  be  truthfully  said  that  any  pledge  made  to  Virginia 
was  ever  broken,  that  any  promise  remained  unkept.  He  died 
without  a  stain  on  the  snow  of  his  reputation. 

As  a  politician,  in  the  purer  acceptation  of  the  term,  he  was 
a  partisan  in  the  same  sense  that  the  lamented  Vice-President 
Hendricks  was  a  partisan.  I  need  hardly  say  in  this  presence 
that  he  was  neither  double-dealer,  time-server,  trimmer,  nor 
trickster.  He  was  not  a  bigot.  Of  this  fact  his  illustrious 
colleagues  of  the  opposition  party  when  these  resolutions  were 
pending  in  the  Senate  bore  ample  testimony.  Upon  the  hus- 
tings, when  the  exigency  of  the  occasion  demanded  it,  he  pos- 
sessed the  power  of  paying  his  respects  to  an  opponent  in  a 
manner  and  with  a  force  at  once  kind,  un garnished,  and 
matchless. 

Like  Snowdoun's  knight  in  Scott's  Lady  of  the  Lake,  he  went 
among  his  constituents  and  gathered  their  wants  and.  needs 
from  actual  observation.  He  was  kind  to  all  without  affecta- 
tion. Of  commanding  presence,  gifted  with  a  voice,  when 
aroused  and  at  his  best,  whose  resonant  tones  were  like  a  bugle 
call  to  action,  possessing  in  no  eminent  degree  the  faculty  of 
thinking  on  his  feet,  endowed  with  little  of  the  imagination  of 
the  orator,  but  with  the  heart  of  a  hero,  he  was  wherever 
known  the  golden-hearted  leader  of  the  dominant  power  in  the 
State  of  Virginia,  who,  in  his  promotion  to  a  seat  in  the  fore- 
most deliberative  body  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  stood  vindi- 
cated and  triumphant. 

As  a  partisan,  however,  he  most  forcibly  impresses  us,  and 
it  is  as  a  partisan,  perchance,  that  he  will  be  best  remembered. 
What  that  superb  leader,  Senator  Oliver  P.  Morton  was  to  his 
party  in  Indiana  when  he  died,  Senator  BARBOUB  was  to  his 
party  in  Virginia.  To  do  exact  justice  to  the  character  and 


84          Address  of  Mr.  Kendall,  of  Kentucky,  on  the 

achievements  of  this  man  it  would  be  necessary  to  review  the 
political  struggles  in  his  State  for  the  past  ten  years,  but  time 
will  not  permit.  Intertwined,  interwoven,  and  interlaced, 
they  are  inseparable.  Of  practical  politics  he  was  indeed  the 
master,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  that  delicacy  would  be  false 
that  prevented  his  being  pictured  as  such.  When  the  watch- 
fires  of  the  clans  he  led  with  matchless  tact  and  tireless  energy 
are  burning  brightly  on  the  Blue  Eidge  and  the  Cumberland 
Hills  across  yonder,  his  name  will  be  linked  with  his  unpara- 
goned  leadership.  His  broken  bands  will  never  again  amid 
the  clash  of  party  conflict  rally  about  his  standard  and  feel 
their  closed  ranks  enthused  with  the  indomitable  courage  that 
shone  from  his  aggressive  nature  and  glance  of  confidence  as 
a  sure  precursor  of  glorious  victory. 

To  one  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  Senator  B ARBOUR 
this  may  seem  the  language  of  extravagance,  but  to  those  who 
followed  and  those  who  met  him  they  are  the  words  of  simple 
truth.  Only  yesterday  I  suggested  to  our  worthy  colleague 
[Mr.  MEREDITH]  that  Senator  BARBOUR  was  a  wonderful 
organizer  of  men.  His  instant  reply  was,  "The  greatest  the 
world  ever  saw." 

Above  the  politician,  above  the  partisan,  was  the  manliness 
of  the  man.  He  was  the  first  to  applaud  and  the  last  to  con- 
demn. He  always  had  a  flower  of  sympathy  for  a  friend  with 
a  sorrow,  as  I  personally  know  and  am  pleased  to  testify.  We 
all  remember,  at  least  most  of  us  here  remember,  the  popular 
demonstration  of  affection  which  crowded  the  other  end  of  the 
Capitol  during  that  impressive  ceremony  when  the  Senator 
lay  dead  in  our  midst.  Calm-browed  history  when  traced  with 
impartial  pen  may  not  assign  his  name  the  first  place  on  her 
precious  page  among  the  public  men  of  his  time,  because .  he 
was  a  busy  man  of  affairs  rather  than  an  author,  but  traditions 
among  his  constituents  will  unite  in  flower-kirtling  his  name 
with  the  rarest  garlands  of  imperishable  glory. 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  85 

In  the  humble  cabin  and  around  the  big  log  hearthstone 
where  poverty  and  probity  unite  for  the  saving  of  the  old 
fashions,  and  from  whence  came  Lincoln  and  Davis,  there  will 
hover  a  sorrow  and  a  niist,  and  here  and  there,  irrespective 
of  party  tie,  a  rugged  cheek  has  borne  the  priceless  tribute  of 
a  tear  in  silence  shed.  Enough  for  those  who  loved  him  that 
in  such  hearts  as  tl^ese  his  good  qualities  will  be  sacredly 
treasured. 

"Did  he  live  in  vain?"  No!  His  success  teaches  a  lesson 
to  aspiring  youth,  and  that  is,  that  reason,  backed  by  honesty 
and  stimulated  by  patience,  can  accomplish  much;  that  to 
whomsoever  will  success  is  nearly  absolutely  certain,  and  that 
to  all  such  it  seems  to  me  the  only  real  calamity  is  death. 
Every  young  man  whose  heart  was  filled  with  a  laudable  aspi- 
ration to  advance  himself  and  make  the  world  better  became 
at  once  his  equal  brother  and  his  friend. 

Envy,  we  are  sure,  found  no  lodgment  in  his  bosom,  and 
this  fact  above  any  other  demonstrates  to  my  satisfaction  that 
Senator  BARBOUR  was  truly  great  and  good.  By  his  open 
grave  the  young  manhood — the  brooch  and  gem  of  Virginia — 
who  followed  with  eager  pride  and  zeal  his  unrivalled  crusade 
against  repudiation  may  well  pause,  and  from  his  methods  and 
staunch  adherence  to  what  he  believed  to  be  principles  erect 
guideposts  and  blaze  the  way  to  future  usefulness.  The  story 
of  his  life  will  redound  to  the  glory  of  the  Virginia  citizen. 
Like  the  flowers  which  loving  tenderness  will  plant  upon  his 
grave,  beside  the  beautiful  river  sparkling  in  the  silvery  sun- 
shine, his  name  and  fame  will  bloom  and  fade  in  our  hearts 
and  memories  as  a  paragon  worthy  of  emulation,  the  shriveled 
leaf  but  furnishing  a  richer  soil  in  which  to  germinate  a  truer, 
chivalric,  and  more  statesmanlike  patriotism. 

Emblazoned  and  embalmed  in  the  sacred,  holy,  and  tender 
traditions  of  the  people,  whose  high  commission  he  time  and 


86  Address  of  Mr.  Kendall,  of  Kentucky,  on  the 

again  carried  to  this  Congress,  will  rest  secure  the  memorial 
of  Senator  JOHN  S.  BARBOUR  a  picture  in  the  heart  of  a 
great  Commonwealth,  equaled  by  few  of  her  living  sons  and 
surpassed  by  none.  The  wind  harps  of  the  forest  will  wail  his 
requiem,  and  on  the  altar  of  duty  done  we  humbly  and  rever- 
ently lay  the  tribute  flowers  of  respect  infinite. 

Not  a  military  hero,  his  strong  voice  swelling  the  wild  roar  of 
war  as  the  Union  cheer  and  the  rebel  yell  went  up  to  heaven, 
borne  on  the  music  of  heroic  bugles,  but  emphatically  a 
civic  chieftain  upon  whose  breast  there  sparkled  perpetually 
the  bright  star  of  priceless  honor.  In  advocating  the  claims 
of  Senator  BARBOUR  to  distinction,  I  feel  a  peculiar  personal 
pride,  because,  although  myself  the  son  of  a  brave  and  humble 
soldier,  as  gallant  and  true  as  ever  rode  in  a  charge  to  the  onset, 
and  the  honor  of  being  whose  son  is  a  heritage  that  will  live 
when  stars  and  titles  and  chaplets  are  dead;  still  I  hold  as 
good  doctrine  that  the  war  being  over,  its  glories  and  its  tears 
past  and  forever  gone,  it  should  be  forgotten  or  remembered 
only  as  an  inheritance  in  common,  its  glories  cementing  the 
old  love  for  a  new  union. 

In  the  history  of  the  Old  Dominion  he  will  occupy  a  unique 
position.  Whilst  in  my  humble  judgment,  if  I  may  be  permitted 
the  privilege  of  comparison,  inferior  as  a  Constitution  defender 
to  Hon.  John  Randolph  Tucker,  whose  splendid  abilities  once 
shone  resplendent  in  this  Hall,  and  to  whose  encomium  by  proxy 
we  have  just  listened;  whilst  not  equal  in  the  graces  of  classic 
oratory  to  the  Castellar  of  the  assembly,  Mr.  DANIEL,  who  sat 
by  his  side  and  whose  characterization  of  his  dead  colleague 
renders  this  hasty  unaffected  tribute  superfluous,  yet  as  an 
organizer  and  leader  of  popular  forces,  whom  all  must  follow, 
exhibiting  a  genius  in  politics  like  Napoleon  in  war,  in  the 
generation  in  which  he  lived  and  moved,  Senator  BARBOUR 
will  stand  without  a  rival  and  without  a  peer. 


Life  and  Character  of  fohn  S.  B arbour.  87 

Sir,  let  us  hope,  let  us  believe,  that  in  that  "  undiscovered 
country"  whither  the  restless  spirit  of  the  gentle,  modest,  manly 
man,  the  devoted  friend,  the  beloved  husband,  and  the  eminent 
Senator  fled,  life  is  eternal  joy  perennial. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JONES,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  pleasing  task  of  portraying  the  life  and 
recounting  the  virtues  of  our  departed  friend,  the  late  Senator 
JOHN  S.  BARBOUR,  has  been  faithfully  and  affectionately  per- 
formed by  the  colleague  who  served  with  him  in  the  Senate 
and  his  friends  and  admirers  upon  this  floor,  and  there  is  but 
little  that  I  can  add  to  what  has  already  been  so  beautifully 
and  tenderly  said. 

When  death  came,  suddenly  and  with  only  the  slightest 
premonition,  he  was  yet  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  mental  powers 
and  apparently  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual  health  and  phys- 
ical strength,  and  although  he  had  passed  that  milestone  which 
marks  the  allotted  limit  of  human  life,  the  silvery  locks  which 
in  such  rare  and  graceful  profusion  crowned  his  noble  brow  and 
a  slightly  bended  form  alone  betokened  the  many  years  which 
comprised  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  useful  of  lives. 

It  was  just  preceding  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1880  that 
I  first  met  Senator  BARBOUR,  and  although  before  his  death 
we  were  thrown  into  daily  intercourse  and  I  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  his  companionship  as  well  as  his  distinguished  friend- 
ship, it  was  as  a  leader  of  men  and  a  director  of  great  political 
movements  that  I  knew  him  best,  for  as  such  he  achieved  his 
highest  fame  and  won  for  himself  that  love  and  veneration  on 
the  part  of  the  people  of  his  State  which  knew  no  diminution 
up  to  the  hour  of  his  death.  For,  although  he  had  earned  a 
high  and  enviable  reputation  as  a  man  of  affairs  and  created 


88  Address  of  Mr.  Jones,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

for  himself  a  proud  position  in  the  world  of  business  before 
entering  actively  into  public  life  as  a  member  of  the  Forty-sev- 
enth Congress,  and  was  already  widely  known  to  the  public 
men  of  the  country,  it  must  in  truth  be  said  that  he  reached 
the  summit  of  his  fame  in  the  field  of  politics,  where,  in  his 
own  State,  he  stood  admittedly  without  a  peer. 

In  the  State  election  of  1879  a  new  party  sprang  into  exist- 
ence in  Virginia.  It  owed  its  being  to  the  unsettled  and 
threatening  condition  of  an  enormous  public  debt,  and  its 
membership  enjoyed  the  suggestive  title  of  "Readjusters." 
Whatever  else  may  have  been  said  of  their  leader,  he  was  a  man 
of  unsurpassed  energy  and  limitless  resource,  an  able  and 
astute  political  manipulator,  who  discovered,  in  the  deplorable 
state  of  the  public  finances  and  the  feverish  condition  of  popu- 
lar sentiment,  a  favorable  opportunity  to  build  up  a  new  party 
upon  a  single  local  issue,  and  to  promote  his  personal  and 
boundless  ambitions. 

A  combination  was  quickly  effected  with  the  leaders  of  the 
Republican  party,  which  party  was  composed  in  the  main  of 
ignorant  negroes,  and,  armed  with  such  a  seductive  issue  as 
the  readjustment  of  the  public  debt,  the  coalition  which  con- 
fronted the  Democratic  or  debt-paying  party  very  soon  proved 
to  be  exceedingly  formidable,  and  after  a  fierce  and  bitter 
struggle  it  succeeded  in  securing  the  absolute  control  of  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  government.  The  victory  thus  won 
was  two  years  later  followed  by  another,  which  resulted  in  turn- 
ing over  to  a  reckless  and  irresponsible  majority  the  executive, 
legislative,  and  judicial  departments  of  the  State  government, 
and  which  threatened  with  serious  injury,  if  not  absolute 
destruction,  the  material  prosperity  and  social  system  of  the 
Commonwealth  itself. 

It  was  this  serious  condition  of  affairs  which  confronted  the 
people  of  Virginia  at  the  opening  of  the  biennial  legislative 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  89 

election  ot  the  autumn  of  1883.  In  the  summer  of  that  year 
the  Democratic  State  convention  assembled  in  the  city  of 
Lynchburg  for  the  purpose  of  reorganizing  its  party  forces  and 
preparing  for  the  conflict  then  imminent.  Its  greatest  and 
most  pressing  need  was  a  political  David  who  could  success- 
fully cope  with  the  triumphant  and  hitherto  invincible  leader 
of  the  coalition  forces ;  one  possessing  rare  power  of  organiza- 
tion, consummate  knowledge  of  men  and  methods,  keen  politi- 
cal sagacity,  untiring  energy,  indomitable  courage,  unfaltering 
faith,  matchless  leadership,  and  a  nature  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  patriotism  j  for  to  such  a  leader  only  could  be 
safely  committed  the  destinies  of  a  great  party,  the  hopes  of  a 
people,  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  free  and  enlightened  insti- 
tutions of  one  of  the  proudest  and  grandest  of  Commonwealths. 

Such  leaders  are  not  easily  to  be  found;  they  are  sometimes 
raised  up  in  great  crises,  and  Virginia  has  not  been  wanting 
in  such  when  the  occasion  for  which  they  were  needed  was 
present.  In  JOHN  STRODE  BARBOUR  the  hour  and  the  man 
were  met.  To  him  was  intrusted  the  almost  unequal  task  of 
redeeming  the  State  from  the  rule  of  a  party  whose  touch  was 
even  more  blighting  than  that  of  "  carpet-bagism,"  and  whose 
master  spirit  unwonted  success  had  invested  with  the  popular 
belief  that  he  was  invincible. 

But  the  incomparable  management  and  superb  generalship 
of  this  new-born  leader  of  Democracy  resulted  in  the  complete 
overthrow  of  its  enemies  and  culminated  in  that  wonderful 
political  triumph  by  which  the  legislature  of  Yirginia  was 
wrested  from  the  hands  of  those  who  had  come  to  be  regarded 
as  the  deadliest  foes  to  the  best  interests  of  the  State.  This 
single  campaign  served  to  establish  the  reputation  of  Senator 
BARBOUR  as  a  leader  of  men  and  a  director  of  campaigns,  and 
to  beget  for  him  that  affection  and  rare  confidence  which  the 
people  of  Virginia  ever  afterwards  reposed  in  him. 


90  Address  of  Mr.  Jones,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

In  the  gubernatorial  contest  that  followed  two  years  latei 
Senator  B ARBOUR  was  again  at  the  head  of  his  party,  and  his 
second  victory  was  even  more  complete  than  his  first.  The 
now  defeated  coalition  leader  not  only  directed  in  person  his 
forces  in  that  great  political  battle,  but  himself  headed  its 
ticket,  and  the  defeat  which  overtook  him  was  decisive  and 
crushing  in  the  extreme.  It  robbed  him  of  all  that  was  left 
of  his  former  prestige,  and  the  party  that  he  had  organized 
and  led  to  victory  and  to  power  never  regained  its  hold  upon 
the  State,  and  has  long  since  been  numbered  with  the  wrecks 
that  are  strewn  along  the  triumphant  march  of  Democracy. 

For  six  years  this  wonderfully  successful  leader  remained  at 
the  head  of  his  party,  and  each  year  but  added  to  his  unsul- 
lied fame  so  courageously  won  and  so  richly  deserved.  At  the 
convention  which  assembled  in  Chicago  in  1884  he  was  made 
a  member  of  the  National  Democratic  Committee,  and  his 
associates  in  that  body  have  always  borne  willing  testimony  to 
the  fidelity,  wisdom,  and  exalted  patriotism  with  which  he 
discharged  the  responsible  and  arduous  duties  of  that  impor- 
tant trust,  and  which  he  continued  to  discharge  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death. 

In  speaking  of  the  political  career  of  our  dead  friend  I  have 
been  obliged  to  go  somewhat  into  detail.  As  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  State  central  committee,  during  the  years  in  which 
he  was  its  inspiration  as  well  as  its  head,  its  brains  as  well  as 
its  power,  and  having  had  the  honor  of  sharing  with  him  in 
some  small  degree  his  arduous  labors,  I  was  thus  afforded  an 
unusual  opportunity  for  observing  his  political  methods  as 
well  as  witnessing  the  splendor  of  his  triumphs,  and  I  have 
felt  that  it  was  but  just  to  his  memory,  and  not  inappropriate 
even  upon  such  an  occasion  as  this,  that  I  should  briefly  refer 
to  his  brilliant  political  career,  a  career  that  won  for  the  poli- 
tician a  generous  admiration,  and  for  the  man  the  enduring 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  B  arbour.  91 

love  of  as  noble  and  chivalrous  a  people  as  the  civilization  of 
the  world  can  boast- 
It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  to  the  vulgar  mind  the  word 
politician  conveys  a  meaning  not  in  accord  with  the  high 
moral  character  and  stainless  reputation  of  the  man  to  whose 
sacred  memory  we  would  to-day  pay  just  tribute.  But  to  my 
mind  it  carries  a  far  different  meaning,  and  if  the  life  of  our 
dead  friend  had  accomplished  no  other  good  purpose,  it  would 
at  least  have  given  to  the  world  a  higher  and  nobler,  a  truer 
and  a  better,  conception  of  the  just  uses  of  politics. 

To  study  the  science  of  government  and  to  alleviate  the  woes 
of  mankind,  to  devote  one's  talents  to  the  hopes  and  needs  of 
a  community,  and  to  disseminate  the  blessings  of  civilization 
is  of  itself  ennobling;  and  such  are  some  of  the  sweet  uses  of 
the  science  of  politics.  It  is  because  there  is  no  more  inviting 
field  of  activity  whose  gates  are  open  to  mankind  that 
unscrupulous  men  so  frequently  occupy  it,  and  yet  the  char- 
acter of  the  man  can  only  be  a  reproach  to  him,  and  ought  not 
to  be  an  argument  against  the  career  he  has  chosen. 

Because  legislative  bodies  have  been  debauched  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  pursuit  of  politics  is  degrading  and  all  politi- 
cians corrupt  and  venal.  If  so,  our  much  boasted  jury  system 
should  be  abolished,  because,  forsooth,  jurors  have  been  bribed 
and  verdicts  purchased.  The  more  inviting  and  seductive  the 
calling,  the  greater  the  danger  that  bad  men  will  enter  upon 
it.  Depict  the  self-seeking  politician  in  colors  as  forbidding 
as  you  may,  the  science  of  politics  is  still  the  highest  of  earthly 
pursuits  and  the  politician  the  most  faithful  exemplification 
of  true  manhood. 

In  these  days  of  materialism  and  of  practical  politics,  when 
governmental  and  not  sentimental  questions  occupy  the  atten- 
tion of  statesmen,  even  the  most  casual  observer  can  not  have 
failed  to  note  that  the  practical  man  is  the  man  who  best  serves 


92  Address  of  Mr.  Jones,  of  Virginia,  on  the 

his  country.  Senator  BARBOUR  was  preeminently  a  practical 
man,  and  although  his  nature  was  not  devoid  of  sentiment  and 
the  tenderest  emotions  found  a  place  in  his  breast,  his  mind 
was  of  an  intensely  practical  turn,  and  he  studied  with  care  the 
great  financial  and  economic  questions  with  which  he  was  called 
upon  to  deal. 

Thorough  in  all  things,  he  was  recognized  as  a  sound  and 
careful  adviser,  and  his  long  and  varied  experience  as  a  busi- 
ness man  furnished  him  with  an  equipment  that  made  him 
conspicuously  useful  as  a  legislator.  He  was  not  merely  an 
intelligent  observer  of  political  events — he  was  more.  He  was 
one  of  those  great  personalities  who  shape  public  sentiment 
and  direct  the  course  of  great  events.  His  ruling  inspiration 
was  his  love  for  his  State.  He  was  a  politician  of  stainless 
honor,  a  statesman  of  spotless  personal  character,  and  a  patriot 
who  loved  his  country  with  all  the  intensity  of  a  heart  that 
was  comprehensive  enough  to  embrace  humanity  itself.  And 
again,  he  was  withal  the  kindliest,  tenderest,  and  most  gen- 
erous of  men. 

Of  an  affectionate  and  sympathetic  nature,  he  was  ever 
alive  to  the  wants  and  necessities  of  others,  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  few  men  have  died  leaving  behind  them  so  many  who, 
although  bound  by  no  ties  of  blood,  mourned  with  a  grief  that 
was  deeper  or  a  sorrow  that  was  more  sincere.  To  this  senti- 
ment there  are  none  who  will  bear  more  willing  and  heart-felt 
testimony  than  my  colleagues  upon  this  floor.  I  can  never 
efface  from  my  memory  the  rude  shock  that  thrilled  me  when, 
in  the  early  hour  of  that  quiet  Saturday  morning,  a  mutual 
friend  who  had  been  the  guest  of  Senator  BARBOUR  the  night 
before  hurried  across  the  street  which  separated  his  house 
from  mine,  and  with  uplifted  hands,  trembling  lips,  and  in 
tones  so  low  and  faltering  that  they  seemed  scarce  above  a 
whisper,  gave  utterance  to  the  startling  words,  "Mr.  BARBOUR 
is  dead." 


Life  and  Character  of  John  S.  Barbour.  93 

Only  the  day  before  I  had  discussed  with  him  the  exciting 
political  situation  then  disturbing  our  party  in  Virginia,  and 
had  marked  the  deep  solicitude,  if  not  forebodings,  with  which 
he  viewed  the  internal  dissensions  which  seemed  to  becloud  his 
party's  future.  His  fame  was  secure,  his  hold  upon  the  affec- 
tions of  his  people  such  that  he  had  no  care  for  his  own  politi- 
cal future.  It  was  only  his  party's  and  his  country's  welfare 
that  caused  him  anxiety  and  greatly  disturbed  his  ordinarily 
quiet  placid  nature. 

It  is  difficult  for  those  who  were  closely  associated  with  him 
in  life  to  realize  even  now  that  his  soul  has  taken  its  flight  and 
that  they  shall  evermore  be  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  his  wise 
counsel  and  his  generous  friendship.  No  words  can  describe 
the  immeasurable  loss  that  the  State  sustained  in  the  death  of 
such  a  man  nor  adequately  portray  the  sorrow  of  those  who 
knew  him  but  to  love,  to  trust,  and  to  admire  him. 

Mr.  MEREDITH.  I  now  ask  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions 
submitted  by  me. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to;  and  in  accord- 
ance therewith  (at  4  o'clock  and  55  minutes  p.  m.)  the  House 
adjourned. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


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O     <L  I  UO     UUUD  I 

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